What makes geothermal energy renewable

There are only two known underground resources of steam in the United States:. Since Yellowstone is protected from development, the only dry steam plants in the country are at The Geysers. This very hot water flows up through wells in the ground under its own pressure. As it flows upward, the pressure decreases and some of the hot water boils into steam. Any leftover water and condensed steam are injected back into the reservoir, making this a sustainable resource.

Binary cycle plants use the heat from the hot water to boil a working fluid, usually an organic compound with a low boiling point. The working fluid is vaporized in a heat exchanger and used to turn a turbine.

The water is then injected back into the ground to be reheated. The water and the working fluid are kept separated during the whole process, so there are little or no air emissions. Policymakers' Guidebooks help guide state and local officials in developing effective policies that support geothermal electricity generation.

Geological Survey Summarizes the USGS assessment of identified geothermal systems, potential from undiscovered geothermal resources, and potential geothermal energy that could be extracted from enhanced geothermal systems.

Related Frequently Asked Questions. What is an Enhanced Geothermal System? American Geosciences Institute. What are the major sources and users of energy in the United States? Article 2 of said law establishes that the state has the duty of establishing the regulations required to make the use of renewable energy sources viable Marzolf In order to review the status of geothermal electricity generation projects in Colombia, first we must point out the stages of development for the commercial operation of a geothermal power plant.

Figure 4 displays the phases and estimated times required to build a geothermal project. The process begins with a survey to recognize, identify, and select potential areas, including an analysis of environmental restrictions. It is followed by a pre-feasibility stage, which includes a series of studies geological, geochemical, and geophysical , establishment of the thermal gradient, and development of the geothermal model. The pre-feasibility stage lasts approximately 2.

Afterwards, during the feasibility stage, exploratory drilling is performed, usually by means of wells at depths of 2—3 km; during this stage the deposit is evaluated; technical and economic viability studies are prepared, and a plant design is developed.

During the development stage, the production and re-injection wells are drilled and the pipelines and generation plant are installed, to finally reach commercial operation, as indicated in Fig. As mentioned in the section above, it is of utmost importance to secure the necessary permits for development in a timely way.

Failure to do so could cause substantial delays in the development process. To date, there are no geothermal power plants in operation in Colombia. Figure 5 displays the areas with geothermal potential in Colombia, where the green dots represent areas where exploration is currently being carried out by companies to generate electricity; the orange areas are in the pre-feasibility stage and are under study by government entities; the dark red areas have geothermal development potential and the yellow areas are those with substantial geothermal anomalies.

West JEC and Schlumberger. Figure 6 shows the location of both power generation projects. Based on the forecast figure for , an estimate was calculated on the participation of geothermal energy as a contributor to electricity supply in the country. It is important to keep in mind that in addition to the areas where pre-feasibility studies for the use of this resource for generation of electricity are currently under way, as mentioned earlier, there are other areas that are suitable for electric power generation and where it might be worthwhile to promote geothermal projects to benefit the regions and diversify electricity supplies in Colombia.

Taking into consideration the main geothermal projects in Colombia, and assuming that the geothermal plant at the Nevado del Ruiz Volcanic Mountain will come to operation in , and assuming, based on normal development times for a geothermal power plant, that the bi-national project with Ecuador will be in operation by , the combined capacity of both plants would be MW by , which adjusted by a generation factor of 0.

This would imply that geothermal energy would account for 1. Pre-feasibility-stages studies are beginning for the geothermal areas of Paipa, Azufral Volcano, and San Diego maar. Preliminary conceptual models have been developed for the geothermal resources in these volcanic zones, leading to the characterization of the areas as being of great interest for geothermal power generation, presented to the World Geothermal Congress Colombia is an attractive country in terms of geothermal energy because it has close to 15 active and numerous inactive volcanoes, and its location on the Pacific Fire Ring is an advantage in terms of making use of geothermal resources, because the thermal gradients are above normal.

Developing the technical and scientific training of personnel in geothermal resources will also help in accelerating development. Alfaro C. Improvement of perception of the geothermal energy as a potential source of electrical energy in Colombia. Accessed 15 Feb Battocletti L. Bertani R. Geothermal power generation in the World— Update Report. Accessed 19—25 Apr Geothermal power generation in the world — update report.

Article Google Scholar. Accessed 20 Mar Dickson MH, Fanelli M. Geothermal energy: utilization and technology. United Kingdom: Routledge; Google Scholar. Hurtado J. Accessed 16 Feb Accessed 20 Feb Relevant information. Marzolf N. Accessed 20 Apr Geothermal development in Colombia.

Accessed 21 Mar Evaluation of a hybrid system of renewable electricity generation for a remote area of Colombia using homer software. Porras D, Gutierrez F. Piensa en Geotermia. Download references.