North American Geothermal Industry Sees Bright Future as EGS Technology Paves New Paths

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Last week, the geothermal industry wrapped up its third annual National Geothermal Summit in Reno, Nevada, to discuss the policies and technologies that are being developed in the field. This week, the Geothermal Energy Association is hosting its annual meeting, the Geothermal Energy Expo, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Participants from six continents are expected.

Currently, Industrial Info is tracking 32 geothermal projects scheduled to begin construction in North America before December 2016, representing more than $5 billion in total investment value.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing these geothermal projects.

For more information, see January 7, 2013, article - U.S. Geothermal Industry to Expand "Staggering" Potential on Techno Innovation.

The geothermal industry is looking to regulators and utilities in western U.S. states, where geothermal resources are prevalent, to better accommodate the challenges that are unique to geothermal power and to reconsider how the energy source is valued in power purchase agreements (PPAs). Geothermal energy projects require costly drilling expeditions, as well as long lead times that drive up costs and are not conducive to the renewable energy incentives that are currently being offered for solar and wind energy projects.

The geothermal industry is expecting a bright future, as intermediate and base load power generators accelerate closures of coal-fired power plants across the country. The industry also anticipates new techniques being developed in the industry, such as Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

Also called engineered geothermal systems, EGS have the potential to dramatically expand the use of geothermal energy. The concept is to extract heat by creating subsurface fractures in the permeable hot basement rock by the injection of pressurized water, thereby creating an expanded geothermal reservoir. With additional production and injection wells, the expanded reservoir is enhanced in order to produce additional heat and power. EGS could facilitate geothermal development outside traditional hydrothermal areas; be used to enable the use of unproductive wells to generate power; and extend geothermal energy production nationwide by supplying base load energy with limited- or no-generation interruption, eliminating the need for energy storage technologies.

EGS was developed by ORMAT Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ORA) (Reno, Nevada) and was recently used to produce 1.7 megawatts of additional generation at the Desert Peak 2 geothermal power plant near Brady, Nevada. EGS technology stimulated an injection well, resulting in a 38% increase in power output from brine. Ormat's air-cooled power plants are the technology of choice for EGS development; they don't consume water in the conversion process, because the geothermal fluid is re-injected and used again after heating in the reservoir.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.