Talk about targeting!

Posted by David Roberts at 11:41 AM on 09 Jan 2008

Read more about: Washington | geothermal power | energy | websites

Here's a blog devoted entirely to geothermal energy in Washington state. Apparently there's a need:

The hot zone of California, Nevada (the Saudi Arabia of geothermal), Idaho and Oregon could produce tens of thousands of megawatts along the spine of the Sierra Nevadas and Cascades. Washington state sits on the edge of this hot zone. The 34 thermal hot springs throughout the state are just the surface of our potential. Yet, Washington state has zero megawatts of geothermal. "It also has zero planned, proposed or within the plant approval process, even though we have excellent potential," laments Susan Petty, one of the world's leading geothermal reservoir engineers. However, there is now news of International Paper assessing their geothermal potential with a partner.

So if you had any questions about geothermal energy in Washington state -- now you know where to go.

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The Saudi-Arabia of Geothermal is in Australia

Ours is way deeper though, in a vast region stretching from Queensland in the north-east of the continent through the cooper basin in the central-eastern deserts, down to the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, across to Victoria and Tasmania in the south-east (see figure three on this page). There is a rush on to explore and exploit it at the moment. The leader in the field is a company called Geodynamics but there are bunch of companies busily drilling away. The first Geodynamics production well is currently at 4km depth and will reach it's target within a few weeks. They will have their first prototype power station running within two years. Once that is done and they've achieved proof-of-concept, expect a further surge in investment and activity. The amount of energy available to be tapped is essentially unlimited.

by picoallen at 10:23 PM on 09 Jan 2008

the geology is tricky

drilling is expensive, and sometimes the steam isn't there when the well is done because it is very difficult to anticipate all the features of the rock

another problem is that many of the areas are sacred to our native people, or are located in remote wilderness areas that people want to preserve

by ce1907 at 4:18 AM on 10 Jan 2008

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