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Drilling 125 wells for 400MW of power seems like a pretty poor return. Although it's hard to tell as the article doesn't go into much detail around the depth of
by fooqux 2y ago
Drilling 125 wells for 400MW of power seems like a pretty poor return. Although it's hard to tell as the article doesn't go into much detail around the depth of those wells.
- cassepipe 2y agoUnless the price of energy goes up globally because of political/commercial instability created by climate change ? If we knew something that had all the perks of oil and none of the disadvantages, we would be all hooked on it. All clean energy are trade-off's compared to oil. Solar ? Short lifespan, land occupation, requires mining, the sun does not always shine, not much energy so you need a lot Wind ? Lifespan, much skill to build and to maintain, the wind does not always blow, not much energy so you need a lot Nuclear ? Big upfront cost, need skilled workforce to build and maintain Geothermal ? Big cost for not so much energy ? All of those need a good grid too
- kwhitefoot 2y ago> All of those need a good grid too So does oil.
- zdragnar 2y agoLots of oil rigs work off-grid, and refineries have historically also operated off grid, though nowadays they buy or sell electricity as needed, depending on load and price. What oil actually depends on is a transportation network, and aside from trains and pipelines, that's pretty flexible too.
- fooqux 2y agoSorry, I should have worded my comment better. It was not to detract from the need for new and renewable sources of power, but rather surprise at how little power you get from each well, and the cost of drilling each of them.
- beembeem 2y agoHence the reason this hasn't taken off yet. Add in the geographical requirements of heat close enough to the surface and costs go up higher. Because it's baseload power, its ouput has higher value than intermittent sources per mwh produced.
- fshbbdssbbgdd 2y ago> Solar ? Short lifespan, land occupation, requires mining Almost everyone I know of who has had solar panels for a long time reports they last a lot longer than promised. And even if some part breaks, it can be replaced. You don’t need to repeat the whole time and expense of acquiring the land, building the facility, grid interconnect and permitting. This means humanity gets a dividend in energy over the very long term, which balances favorably against the upfront cost. The issue of intermittency is more valid. It can be mitigated with battery storage, which has its own cost and downsides, but the chemistries are advancing rapidly, so I think the future is bright for energy abundance.
- jeffbee 2y agoHow many gas wells are punched for every gas turbine? Apparently there are about 500GW of natural gas power stations in America and 90000 producing gas wells, and 40% of that is for electric power, so 15MW per hole in the ground.
- fooqux 2y agoThat is an excellent comparison. And with the assumption that geothermal wells can last longer (the wells for my geothermal HVAC system were rated 50+ years, although I presume my wells and the types of wells needed for a 400MW plant are far different) then this is actually pretty decent.
- mschuster91 2y ago> Drilling 125 wells for 400MW of power seems like a pretty poor return. That's 400 MW of 24/7 baseload power. Forever, for free. The nuclear power lobby is scared shitless of geothermal generation becoming not just viable but proven, because "cheap baseload" is just about the one thing that NPPs are actually pretty damn good at.