How to achieve at least a tenfold increase in supply of geothermal power and heat
STOCKHOLM -- IEA ‘technology roadmap’ points to key policy actions needed to achieve significant growth of renewable energy resource
A new report from the International Energy Agency<http://www.iea.org/index.asp> (IEA) shows how to achieve at least a tenfold increase in the global production of heat and electricity from geothermal energy – heat emitted from within the earth’s crust – between now and 2050.
Renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar and geothermal will have to comprise a much greater share of the global energy mix in the coming years if the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is to be kept below 450 parts per million – a key threshold in limiting global temperature increase to 2°C, which leaders agreed to at the UN climate change talks in Cancun in 2010.
The IEA says that through a combination of policy actions that encourage the development of untapped geothermal resources and new technologies, geothermal energy can account for around 3.5% of annual global electricity production and 3.9% of energy for heat by 2050 – a substantial increase from current levels of 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
“This would be an important contribution to global efforts of reducing carbon emissions, using a sustainable and reliable source of energy that is available all over the world, and does not fluctuate with the weather or season,” said IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka, who launched the report, Technology Roadmap: Geothermal heat and power, at the EURELECTRIC annual conference<http://www.eurelectric.org/Stockholm2011/> in Stockholm.
The report is the latest in the IEA series of technology roadmaps<http://www.iea.org/subjectqueries/keyresult.asp?KEYWORD_ID=4156>, which aim to guide governments and industry on the actions and milestones needed to achieve the potential for a full range of clean energy technologies.
Incentive schemes, databases and permits
One key area of action for governments identified in the report is the introduction of incentive schemes that will encourage the development of geothermal technologies that are not yet commercially viable. These include feed-in tariffs, which are payments to anyone who generates electricity for a grid using renewable sources of energy.
In addition, the report stresses that publicly available databases should be developed, which could be used to assess, access and exploit geothermal resources throughout the world. “[This] requires co-operation among geothermal industry groupings, national authorities and research institutes,” writes Milou Beerepoot, the report’s author and a senior analyst at the IEA.
A third proposed area of action outlined in the report focuses on overcoming the barrier of obtaining permits, which are necessary for all new geothermal plants.
“Many countries that lack specific laws for geothermal resources currently process geothermal permits under mining laws that were conceived with objectives other than renewable energy production,” writes Ms. Beerepoot. “Permitting procedures can consist of numerous steps, resulting in long lead times. The lack of regulation for geothermal energy is inhibiting the effective exploitation of the resource.”
The report highlights several ways for governments to address these permit obstacles, including enforcing legislation that separates geothermal resources from the mining code.
Utilising emerging technologies
To date, efforts to extract geothermal energy have concentrated on areas with naturally occurring water or steam. (The water or steam, commonly found near tectonic plate boundaries and often associated with volcanoes and seismic activities, is easily accessible as the permeable rock in the earth’s crust is already fractured).
However, the vast majority of the world’s geothermal energy within drilling reach – which can be up to 5 kilometres – is found in rock that is relatively dry and impermeable. These areas, which are found all over the world and contain insufficient water for natural exploration, are known as hot-rock resources.
Currently, technologies that allow energy to be tapped from hot-rock resources – the best known is enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) – are still in demonstration stage, but the IEA report suggests that governments should provide sustained and substantially high research, development and demonstration resources to plan and develop at least 50 enhanced EGS pilot plants during the next decade.
With these systems, a well is drilled deep into the ground, typically below 1.5 kilometres. Water is then injected into the well at sufficient pressure so as to create fractures in the rock. Other wells are then drilled in order to suck up the water, which has been heated by the hot rocks.
“If these enhanced geothermal systems are developed further, this will significantly open up global exploration of geothermal resources,” said Ms. Beerepoot.
For a copy of the report, please click here<http://www.iea.org/papers/2011/Geothermal_Roadmap.pdf>.
About the IEA
The International Energy Agency (IEA) is an autonomous organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 28 member countries and beyond. Founded in response to the 1973/4 oil crisis, the IEA’s initial role was to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in oil supply through the release of emergency oil stocks to the markets. While this continues to be a key aspect of its work, the IEA has evolved and expanded. It is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing reliable and unbiased research, statistics, analysis and recommendations.Z
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