Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 ABSTRACT
Electricity is produced by geothermal in 24 countries, five of which obtain 15-22% of
their national electricity production from geothermal energy. Direct application of geo-
thermal energy (for heating, bathing etc.) has been reported by 72 countries. By the end
of 2004, the worldwide use of geothermal energy was 57 TWh/yr of electricity and 76
TWh/yr for direct use. Ten developing countries are among the top fifteen countries in
geothermal electricity production. Six developing countries are among the top fifteen
countries reporting direct use. China is at the top of the latter list. It is considered
possible to increase the ins-talled world geothermal electricity capacity from the current
10 GW to 70 GW with present technology, and to 140 GW with enhanced technology.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems, which are still at the experimental level, have enormous
potential for primary energy recovery using new heat-exploitation technology to extract
and utilise the Earth's stored thermal energy. Present investment cost in geothermal
power2 stations is 2-4.5 million euro/MWe, and the generation cost 40-100 euro/MWh.
Direct use of geothermal energy for heating is also commercially competitive with con-
ventional energy sources. Scenarios for future development show only a moderate
increase in traditional direct use applications of geothermal resources, but an
exponential increase is foreseen in the heat pump sector, as geothermal heat pumps can
be used for heating and/or cooling in most parts of the world. CO2 emission from
geothermal power plants in high-temperature fields is about 120 g/kWh (weighted
average of 85% of the world power plant capacity). Geothermal heat pumps driven by
fossil fuelled electricity reduce the CO2 emis-sion by at least 50% compared with fossil
fuel fired boilers. If the electricity that drives the geothermal heat pump is produced
from a renewable energy source like hydropower or geothermal energy the emission
savings3 are up to 100%.
Geothermal energy is available day and night every day of the year and can thus serve
as a supplement to energy sources which are only available intermittently. Renewable
energy sources can contribute significantly more to the mitigation of climate change by
cooperating than by competing.

1.2 INTRODUCTION
Electricity is produced by geothermal in 24 countries, five of which obtain 15-
22% of their national electricity production from geothermal energy. Direct applicati-on
of geothermal energy (for heating, bath ing etc.) has been reported by 72 countries. By
the end of 2004, the worldwide use of geothermal energy was 57 TWh/yr of
electricity and 76 TWh/yr for direct use. Ten developing countries are among the top
fifteen countries in geothermal electri-city production. Six developing countries are
among the top fifteen countries report-ing direct use. China is at the top of the latter list.
It is considered possible to in-crease the installed world geothermal elec- tricity capacity
from the current 10 GW to 70 GW with present technology, and to 140 GW with
enhanced technology.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems, which are still at the experimental level, have
enormous potential for primary energy recovery using new heat-exploitation tech-
nology to extract and utilise the Earth’s stored thermal energy. Present investment cost
in geothermal power stations is 2-4.5 million euro/MWe, and the generation cost 40-100
euro/MWh.
1
 Direct use of geothermal energy for heating is also commercially competitive with
conventional energy sources. Scenarios for future development show only a moderate
increase in traditional direct use applications of geothermal resources, but an
exponential increase is foreseen in the heat pump sector, as geo-thermal heat pumps can
be used for heating and/or cooling in most parts of the world. CO 2 emission from
geothermal power plants in high-temperature fields is about 120 g/kWh (weighted
average of 85% of the world power plant capacity). Geothermal heat pumps driven by
fossil fuelled electricity reduce the CO2 emission by at least 50% compared with fossil
fuel fired boilers. If the electricity that drives the geothermal heat pump is produced
from a renewable energy source like hydropower or geothermal energy the emission
savings are up to 100%.
Geothermal energy is available day and night every day of the year and can thus serve
as a supplement to energy sources which are only available intermit-tently. Renewable
energy sources can con - tribute significantly more to the mitigation of climate change
by cooperating than by competing.
The most important source of informa-tion for this contribution is a position pa-per
of the International Geothermal Asso-ciation (IGA) presented at the IPPC Meet-ing on
Renewable Energy Sources (Frid -leifsson et al., 2008). The cost analysis is based on a
very detailed Geothermal Energy Association paper (GEA, 2005).

1.3 PRESENT STATUS

Although geothermal energy is catego-rised in international energy tables am-ongst the
“new renewables”, it is not a new energy source at all. People have used hot springs for
bathing and washing clothes since the dawn of civilisation in many parts of the world.
An excellent book has been published with historical records and stories of geothermal
utilisation from all over the world (Cataldi et al., 1999).
Electricity has been generated com-mercially by geothermal steam since 1913, and
geothermal energy has been used on the scale of hundreds of MW for five decades both
for electricity generation and direct use. The utilisation has increased rapidly during the
last three decades. Geothermal resources have been identified in some 90 countries and
there are quan-tified records of geothermal utilisation in 72 countries. Summarised
information on geothermal use in the individual countries for electricity production and
direct use (heating) is available in Bertani (2005) and Lund et al. (2005), respectively.
Electricity is produced by geothermal energy in 24 countries. Five of these countries
obtain 15-22% of their national electricity pro-duction from geothermal (Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Iceland, Kenya and the Philip-pines). In 2004, the worldwide use of
geothermal energy was about 57 TWh/yr of electricity, and 76 TWh/yr for direct use.
The installed electric capacity in 2004 was 8,933 MWe.
The world geothermal electricity pro-duction increased by 16% from 1999 to 2004
(annual growth rate of 3%). Direct use in-creased by 43% from 1999 to 2004 (annual
growth rate of 7.5%). Only a small fraction of the geothermal potential has been
developed so far, and there is ample opportunity for an increased use of geo-thermal
energy both for direct applications and electricity production (Gawell et al.
1999).
The installed electrical capacity achi-eved an increase of about 800 MWe in the three
year term 2005-2007, following the rough standard linear trend of approxi-mately
200/250 MWe .

2
 Geothermal energy has until recently had a considerable economic potential
only in areas where thermal water or steam is found concentrated at depths less than 3
km in restricted volumes, analogous to oil in commercial oil reservoirs (Cataldi, 1999,
Fridleifsson, 1999). This has changed in the last two decades with the development of
power plants that can economically uti-lise lower temperature resources (around 100°C)
and the emergence of ground source heat pumps using the earth as a heat source for
heating or as a heat sink for cooling, depending on the season. This has made it possible
for all countries to use the heat of the earth for heating and/or cooling, as appropriate. It
should be stressed that heat pumps can be used basically everywhere.

CHAPTER 2
GEOTHERMAL RESERVOIRS
2.1 WHAT IS RESERVOIR
3
A geothermal reservoir is a volume of rocks in the subsurface which exploitaton in terms
of heat can be economically profitable.
It should be noted that for producing the heat from the subsurface is necessary the
presence of a transport fluid (usually water), and that drilling to an enough depth to
reach the optimum operation temperatures is also necessary. These factors and the
technical and other concerns entail costs which increase with depth.
The temperature of the fluid and the possible applications are important to sort
reservoirs. Thus, four types of geothermal reservoirs can be defined:
2.1.1 High temperature:
These reservoirs provide enough heat to make electricity from steam profitably. High
temperature reservoirs are generally more than 150° C, and are located in areas of thin
lithospheric thinness or active volcanism.
Within the group of high-temperature geothermal reservoirs there are "Hot Dry Rock"
(HDR) geothermal reservoirs, which are exploited by the techniques called "stimulation
of geothermal reservoirs" (EGS: Enhanced Geothermal System). They consist of
fracturing a mass of deep rock to create a geothermal reservoir allowing the circulation
of fluids inside it. These reservoirs not require high thermal gradients, but a very
specific geological context. Although the implementation of such reservoir is still
experimental (i.e. Soultz-sous-Fôrets, in France) in Catalonia have been granted some
exploration permits.
2.1.2 Middle temperature:
Despite these reservoirs have a lower temperature compared to the high temperature
ones, they allow extracting sufficient heat to produce electricity (but with lower
performances) using a volatile fluid. The reservoirs usually reach temperatures between
100 and 150 ºC, and are located in areas with favourable structural and geological
contexts and geothermal gradients higher than the average. Their direct use may be in
heating mode and their main applications are in district heating systems and industrial
processes.
2.1.3 Low temperature:
The temperature of these reservoirs is between 100 and 30 °C. They are located in areas
with a favourable geological context including deep aquifers; the geothermal gradient is
like the average in the region. Their exploitation involves pumping hot groundwater
from the aquifer and re-injecting it after it has delivered the heat and is cold again.
These are used in direct applications and for district heating systems and industrial
processes.
2.1.4 Very low temperature:
The temperature of these reservoirs is below 30 °C. In these, the underground is used as
a heat exchanger, by means of a heat pump in a closed circuit. Their applications are in
domestic and agricultural air conditioning systems. These kinds of reservoirs may be
anywhere, because their efficiency is just determined by the underground thermal
inertia in normal (average) geothermal gradient conditions.

4
 Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) are one of the fastest growing applications of
renewable energy in the world today (Ry-bach, 2005). They represent a rather new but
already well-established technology, utilising the immense amounts of energy stored in
the earth´s interior. This form for direct use of geothermal energy is based on the
relatively constant ground or gro-undwater temperature in the range of 4°C to 30°C
available anywhere in the world, to provide space heating, cooling and domestic hot
water for homes, schools.

CHAPTER 3
USES OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
3.1 OVERVIEW
Geothermal reservoirs of low-to moderate-temperature water — 68°F to 302°F (20°C to
150°C) — provide direct heat for residential, industrial, and commercial uses. This
resource is widespread in the United States, and is used to heat homes and offices,
5
commercial greenhouses, fish farms, food processing facilities, gold mining operations,
and a variety of other applications. In addition, spent fluids from geothermal electric
plants can be subsequently used for direct use applications in so-called "cascaded"
operation.
Direct use of geothermal energy in homes and commercial operations is much less
expensive than using traditional fuels. Savings can be as much as 80% over fossil fuels.
Direct use is also very clean, producing only a small percentage (and in many cases
none) of the air pollutants emitted by burning fossil fuels.

3.2 THE DIRECT-USE RESOURCE

Low-temperature geothermal resources exist throughout the western U.S., and there is
tremendous potential for new direct-use applications. A survey of 10 western states
identified more than 9,000 thermal wells and springs, more than 900 low- to moderate-
temperature geothermal resource areas, and hundreds of direct-use sites.
The survey also identified 271 collocated sites — cities within 5 miles (8 kilometers) of a
resource hotter than 122 degrees F (50 degrees C) — that have excellent potential for
near- term direct use. If these collocated resources were used only to heat buildings, the
cities have the potential to displace 18 million barrels of oil per year!
3.3 ACCESSING THE RESOURCE
Direct-use systems typically include three components:
· Production facility — usually a well — to bring the hot water to the surface;
· Mechanical system — piping, heat exchanger, controls — to deliver the heat to
the space or process; and
· Disposal system — injection well or storage pond — to receive the cooled
geothermal fluid.
3.4INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL USES
Industrial applications include food dehydration, laundries, gold mining, milk
pasteurizing, spas, and others. Dehydration, or the drying of vegetable and fruit
products, is the most common industrial use of geothermal energy. The earliest
commercial use of geothermal energy was for swimming pools and spas. In 1990, 218
resorts were using geothermal hot water.

6
3.6GEOTHERMAL ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION
Most power plants need steam to generate electricity. The steam rotates a turbine that
activates a generator, which produces electricity. Many power plants still use fossil fuels
to boil water for steam. Geothermal power plants, however, use steam produced from
reservoirs of hot water found a couple of miles or more below the Earth's surface. There
are three types of geothermal power plants:dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle.
Dry steam power plants draw from underground resources of steam. The steam is piped
directly from underground wells to the power plant, where it is directed into a
turbine/generator unit. There are only two known underground resources of steam in
the United States: The Geysers in northern California and Yellowstone National Park in
Wyoming, where there's a well-known geyser called Old Faithful. Since Yellowstone is
protected from development, the only dry steam plants in the country are at The
Geysers.

Flash steam power plants are the most common. They use geothermal reservoirs of
water with temperatures greater than 360°F (182°C). 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. The steam is then separated from
the water and used to power a turbine/generator. Any leftover water and condensed
steam are injected back into the reservoir, making this a sustainable resource.

Binary cycle power plants operate on water at lower temperatures of about 225°-360°F
(107°-182°C). These 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

7
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.

3.7GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMPS (GHPS)

Geothermal heat pumps take advantage of the Earth’s relatively constant temperature
at depths of about 10 ft to 300 ft. GHPs can be used almost everywhere in the world, as
they do not share the requirements of fractured rock and water as are needed for a
conventional geothermal reservoir. GHPs circulate water or other liquids through pipes
buried in a continuous loop, either horizontally or vertically, under a landscaped area,
parking lot, or any number of areas around the building. The Environmental Protection
Agency considers them to be one of the most efficient heating and cooling systems
available.

Animals burrow underground for warmth in the winter and to escape the heat of the
summer. The same idea is applied to GHPs, which provide both heating and cooling
solutions. To supply heat, the system pulls heat from the Earth through the loop and
distributes it through a conventional duct system. For cooling, the process is reversed;
the system extracts heat from the building and moves it back into the earth loop. It can
also direct the heat to a hot water tank, providing another advantage — free hot water.
GHPs reduce electricity use 30–60% compared with traditional heating and cooling
systems, because the electricity which powers them is used only to collect, concentrate,
and deliver heat, not to produce it.

3.8 HEATING USES

Geothermal heat is used directly, without involving a power plant or a heat pump, for a
variety of applications such as space heating and cooling, food preparation, hot spring
8
bathing and spas (balneology), agriculture, aquaculture, greenhouses, and industrial
processes. Uses for heating and bathing are traced back to ancient Roman times. (2)
Currently, geothermal is used for direct heating purposes at sites across the United
States. U.S. installed capacity of direct use systems totals 470 MW or enough to heat
40,000 average-sized houses.
The Romans used geothermal water to treat eye and skin disease and, at Pompeii, to
heat buildings. Medieval wars were even fought over lands with hot springs. The first
known "health spa" was established in 1326 in Belgium at natural hot springs. And for
hundreds of years, Tuscany in Central Italy has produced vegetables in the winter from
fields heated by natural steam.

CHAPTER 4
TYPES OF GEOTHERMAL PLANT
4.1 GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT
Geothermal power comes from the slow decay of radioactive minerals such as uranium,
which causes the rocks to become magma. Tectonic plate movement causes the
movement of magma up from the edges, forming a reservoir in which geothermal steam
and hot water can be recovered through wells.

9
 Geothermal energy uses heat to produce steam, which in

turn powers a generator to produce electricity.

Geothermal energy is generated deep in the ground, in the form of hot molten rock, or a
Magma formed from the collapse of radioactive materials like uranium.
This energy becomes available to us at the borders of tectonic plates, when rubbing
together and sliding under the another, causing the magma to break from the edges and
pushed to the Earth’s surface forming a geothermal reservoir.
4.2 DRY STEAM POWER PLANT
The first is the dry steam power plant which is used to generate power directly from the
steam generated inside the earth.In this case,
we do not need additional heating boilers and boiler fuel, as steam or water vapour fill
the wells through rock catcher and directly rotates the turbine, which activates a
generator to produce electricity.
This type of power plant is not common since natural hydrothermal reservoirs dry
steam are very rare.
There are four commercial types of geothermal power plants: a. flash power plants, b.
dry steam power plants, c. binary power plants, and d. flash/binary combined power
plants.

10
4.3 FLASH STEAM POWER PLANT
The most common type of geothermal power plant, flash steam plants use waters at
temperatures greater than 360F.
As this hot water flows up through wells in the ground, it is collected in a flash tank
where drop in pressure causes the liquid to boil into steam.The steam is separated from
the liquid which is then used to run turbines which in turn generate power. The
condensed steam is returned to the reservoir Flash Steam Power Plants are the most
common form of geothermal power plant. The hot water is pumped under great
pressure to the surface. When it reaches the surface the pressure is reduced and as a
result some of the water changes to steam. This produces a ‘blast’ of steam. The cooled
water is returned to the reservoir to be heated by geothermal rocks again. Fluid is
sprayed into a tank held at a much lower pressure than the fluid, causing some of the
fluid to rapidly vaporize, or "flash." The vapor then drives a turbine, which drives a
generator.If any liquid remains in the tank, it can be flashed again in a second tank
(double flash) to extract even more energy.

4.4 BINARY STEAM POWER PLANT

This type of plant uses high temperature geothermal water to heat another fluid which
has a lower boiling point than water.
This fluid vaporizes to steam, drives the turbines, then condenses to liquid to begin the
cycle again.
The water, which never comes into direct contact with the working fluid, is then injected
back into the ground to be reheated. Since the most resources are with lower
temperature the binary steam power plants are more common.

11
Most geothermal areas contain moderate-temperature water (below 400°F). Energy is
extracted from these fluids in binary-cycle power plants.

Hot geothermal fluid and a secondary (hence, "binary") fluid with a much lower boiling
point than water pass through a heat exchanger. Heat from the geothermal fluid causes
the secondary fluid to flash to vapor, which then drives the turbines.

Because this is a closed-loop system, virtually nothing is emitted to the atmosphere.

Moderate-temperature water is by far the more common geothermal resource, and most
geothermal power plants in the future will be binary-cycle plants.

Recent advances in geothermal technology have made possible the economic production
of electricity from geothermal resources lower than 150°C (302°F). Known as binary
geothermal plants, the facilities that make this possible reduce geothermal energy’s
already low emission rate to zero. Binary plants typically use an Organic Rankine Cycle
system. The geothermal water (called “geothermal fluid” in the accompanying image)
heats another liquid, such as isobutane or other organic fluids such as
pentafluoropropane, which boils at a lower temperature than water. The two liquids are
kept completely separate through the use of a heat exchanger, which transfers the heat
energy from the geothermal water to the working fluid. The secondary fluid expands
into gaseous vapor. The force of the expanding vapor, like steam, turns the turbines that
12
power the generators. All of the produced geothermal water is injected back into the
reservoir.

4.5 SITE SELECTION OF GEOTHERMAL PLANT

4.5.1 SLOPE
Slope refers to how steep the surface of the land is. Steep slopes are a limitation for GPP
development, not only because of the cost and transportation but also water that can
find pathway from the drain to flow on the surface. Basically the slope limitations for
any development are slight if the slope is less than 8%, moderate if the slope is 8-15%
and severe if the slope is greater than 15%.
In this study, topography counter map of the study area was used to create a slope binary
factor map to use in the GM-GPP (Fig. 3). To identify suitable areas based on the slope the
study area is divided into two features; less than 15% and more than 15%. The area with
less than 15% slope is 149 km2 which in selected as suitable areas for GPP
based on slope.
4.5.2 RIVERS
River limitations refer to the location of rivers and potential for flooding by streams or
rivers around GPP in the study area. On the other words, the area without river, stream
or big tributary drainage with their buffer can be assumed as a suitable area for GPP
based on the river. There are 82 km river in the study area. 47 km of these rivers which
is called khiav chay, is a beautiful river, runs north from Mt. Kasra, between the two
villages of Moil (to the east) and Dizo (to the west), to meshkinshahr city on the middle
of wide Darreh Rud valley had a calciummagnesium hardness of only 80 mg/l and
temperature 7.5°C
(Fig. 3).
This valley has 120-280 meter depth that surrounded by steep slope therefore the
selected area in the West side of the river were not selected because plumbing
geothermal fluid from the wells which all located in the East side of the river is not
economic.
In this study, 200 m buffer size was given around the rivers data layer to identify river
limitation areas. The areas beyond this limitation are suitable area for GPP based on the
river.
4.5.3 FAULTS
In geology, faults are discontinuities (cracks) in the earth's crust that have been
13
responsible for many destructive earthquakes.Blewitt et al. (2003) indicated that at a
regional scale, geothermal plumbing systems might be controlled by fault planes.
Therefore fractures and faults play an important role in geothermal fields, as fluid
mostly flows through fractures in the reservoir rocks. In the current study for avoiding
of risk-taking of faults, 200 meter buffer size was applied by using the ArcMap Buffer
tool and a certain area is selected as potential hazard area based on faults and fractures.
The made fault limited factor map was used in GM-GPP to identify suitable area by
avoiding fault risks. In this scale there are 42 faults and fractures in the study area.

4.5.4 SOCIOECONOMICAL DATASET

Socioeconomic study and conditions are usually hard to identify and investigate, as they
are related to the human beings and their characteristics, which usually differ widely
within the same community and from one community to another.
In the study area among the socioeconomic parameters, maybe population center, access
road and land use can affect the GPP site selection project. Based on the land use data
layer all around the study area is suitable for GPP construction. For this reason land use
data layer did not appear in the model.
4.5.5 POPULATION CENTER
The location and distribution of Villages, single buildings, agro nomads camping, sheep
farming, stadium and sport centers, burial grounds, mosques and etc considered as
population center data layer. To avoid of selection or affect these areas, 500 meter buffer
size applied around these features to make the population center limited data layer. The
clip tool in ArcInfo between the population center limited map and study area map was
applied to make the suitable area based on the population centers or
factor map which was used in the GM-GPP.

There are three villages in the study area located in the southern, northern and eastern
parts respectively. The Valezir village is located in the northern part and comprises
about 50 families. The second village is Dizo in the north-western part of the area
comprising about 30 families and the third and largest village is Moil that is located in
the south-eastern part of the area with more than 400 families whose dominant
occupation is sheep keeping and cultivation .
4.5.6 ACCESS ROAD
One of the important parts of every socioeconomic study is the condition of road
network. In the study area 16 km asphalt road provides access to the field from
Meshkinshahr city to the village of Moil, then to the geothermal site south of the village
by 14 km paved road (Fig.3).

In the GPP site selection project 100 meter buffer size was applied around the road
features to make the restricted road map. By using clip tool, factor map without this
restricted area was made to use in the siting model.
4.5.7 HOT SPRINGS
hot springs are evidence of a subsurface heat source and the temperature of springs has
correlation with amount of heat flow. Those locations where hot springs rise to the
surface are geothermal potential prospected areas because it is assumed that the 14
probability of the occurrence of a geothermal resource is higher than that in the
surrounding area. There are 7 hot springs (Fig. 3) including hottest one in the country
which is called Geynarjeh with 86°C located in the study area. With regard to the
chemical and physical characteristics of the thermal waters, they have been traditionally
used for recreational and balneological purposes in the form of swimming and bathing
pools as a fundamental version of direct-heat utilization of geothermal energy in the
region
(Saffarzadeh and Noorollahi, 2005).

The clip tool was applied between the study area and limited hot springs map with 100
meter buffer size to make the hot spring factor map to use in the model.

CHAPTER 5
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN INDIA
5.1 OVERVIEW
India has reasonably good potential for geothermal; the potential geothermal provinces
can produce 10,600 MW of power (but experts are confident only to the extent of 100
MW). But yet geothermal power projects has not been exploited at all, owing to a
variety of reasons, the chief being the availability of plentiful coal at cheap costs.

15
However, with increasing environmental problems with coal based projects, India will
need to start depending on clean and eco-friendly energy sources in future; one of which
could be geothermal.
It has been estimated from geological, geochemical, shallow geophysical and shallow
drilling data it is estimated that India has about 10,000 MWe of geothermal power
potential that can be harnessed for various purposes. Rocks covered on the surface of
India ranging in age from more than 4500 million years to the present day and
distributed in different geographical units. The rocks comprise of Archean, Proterozoic,
the marine and continental Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, Teritary, Quaternary etc., More than
300 hot spring locations have been identified by Geological survey of India (Thussu,
2000). The surface temperature of the hot springs ranges from 35 C to as much as 98 C.
These hot springs have been grouped together and termed as different geothermal
provinces based on their occurrence in specific geotectonic regions, geological and
strutural regions such as occurrence in orogenic belt regions, structural grabens, deep
fault zones, active volcanic regions etc., Different orogenic regions are – Himalayan
geothermal province, Naga-Lushai geothermal province, Andaman-Nicobar Islands
geothermal province and non-orogenic regions are – Cambay graben, Son-Narmada-
Tapi graben, west coast, Damodar valley, Mahanadi valley, Godavari valley etc.
· Puga Valley (J&K)
· Tatapani (Chhattisgarh)
· Godavari Basin Manikaran (Himachal Pradesh)
· Bakreshwar (West Bengal)
· Tuwa (Gujarat)
· Unai (Maharashtra)
· Jalgaon (Maharashtra)

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5.2 CURRENT PROJECT
There are no operational geothermal plants in India.
Estimated (min.)
reservoir Temp
Geothermal Field (Approx) Status
From geochemical
and deep geophysical
Puga geothermal field o studies (MT)
240 C at 2000m
o o
120 C - 150 C at 500
meter and 200 Cat Magnetotelluric
Tattapani Sarguja (Chhattisgarh) 2000 m survey done by NGRI
Magnetotelluric
Tapoban Chamoli (Uttarakhand) o survey done by NGRI
100 C at 430 meter
Steam discharge was
o estimated 3000 cu
160 C at 1900 meter
(From Oil exploration meter/ day with high
Cambay Garben (Gujrat) borehole) temprature gradient.
Badrinath Chamoli (Uttarakhand) o Magneto-telluric
150 C estimated
study was done by
NGRI
Deep drilling
17
 required to ascertain
Reservoir Temp geothermal field

Geothermal Field (Approx) Status

Magneto-telluric
study was done by
NGRI.
Heat rate 128.6
Surajkund Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) o 2
110 C mW/m
Magneto-telluric
study was done by
NGRI
Manikaran Heat flow rate 130
Kullu (H P) o 2
100 C mW/m
Magneto-telluric
Kasol study was done by
Kullu (H P) o NGRI
110 C

5.3 COST,PRICE AND CHALLENGE

Unlike traditional power plants that run on fuel that must be purchased over the life of
the plant, geothermal power plants use a renewable resource that is not susceptible to
price fluctuations.
New geothermal plants currently are generating electricity from 0.05$ to 0.08$ per
kilowatt hour (kwh).Once capital costs .Once the capital costs have been recovered price
of power can decrease below 0.05$ per kwh. The price of geothermal is within range of
other electricity choices available today when the costs of the lifetime of the plant are
considered.
Most of the costs related to geothermal power plants are related to resource exploration
and plant construction. Like oil and gas exploration, it is expensive and because only
one in five wells yield a reservoir suitable for development .Geothermal developers must
prove that they have reliable resource before they can secure millions of dollar required
to develop geothermal resources

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5.3.1 DRILLING
Although the cost of generating geothermal has decreased by 25 percent during the last
two decades, exploration and drilling remain expensive and risky. Drilling Costs alone
account for as much as one-third to one-half to the total cost of a geothermal project.
Locating the best resources can be difficult; and developers may drill many dry wells
before they discover a viable resource. Because rocks in geothermal areas are usually
extremely hard and hot, developers must frequently replace drilling equipment.
Individual productive geothermal wells generally yield between 2MW and 5MW of
electricity; each may cost from $1 million to $5 million to drill. A few highly productive
wells are capable of producing 25 MW or more of electricity.
5.3.2 TRANSMISSION
Geothermal power plants must be located near specific areas near a reservoir because it
is not practical to transport steam or hot water over distances greater than two miles.
Since many of the best geothermal resources are located in rural areas , developers may
be limited by their ability to supply electricity to the grid. New power lines are expensive
to construct and difficult to site. Many existing transmission lines are operating near
capacity and may not be able to transmit electricity without significant upgrades.
Consequently, any significant increase in the number of geothermal power plants will be
limited by those plants ability to connect, upgrade or build new lines to access to the
power grid and whether the grid is able to deliver additional power to the market.

5.3.4 BARRIERS

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· Finding a suitable build location.
· Energy source such as wind, solar and hydro are more popular and better
established; these factors could make developers decided against geothermal.
· Main disadvantages of building a geothermal energy plant mainly lie in the
exploration stage, which can be extremely capital intensive and high-risk; many
companies who commission surveys are often disappointed, as quite often, the land they
were interested in, cannot support a geothermal energy plant.
· Some areas of land may have the sufficient hot rocks to supply hot water to a power
station, but many of these areas are located in harsh areas of the world (near the poles),
or high up in mountains.
· Harmful gases can escape from deep within the earth, through the holes drilled by
the constructors. The plant must be able to contain any leaked gases, but disposing of
the gas can be very tricky to do safely.
5.5 GEOTHERMAL COMPANIES
· Panx Geothermal
· LNJ Bhilwara
· Tata Power
· Thermax
· NTPC
· Avin Energy Systems
· GeoSyndicate Power Private Limited

5.6 RD&D PRIORITIES

In the case of geothermal energy, several topics are identified as being key to its
advancement in the global market place. These are related to cost reduction, sustainable
use, expansion of use into new geographical regions, and new applications. The priorities
are categorized as “general” or specific to RD&D. General priorities:

· Life-cycle analysis of geothermal power generation and direct use systems.

· Sustainable production from geothermal resources.
· Power generation through improved conversion efficiency cycles.
· Use of shallow geothermal resources for small-scale individual users.
· Studies of induced seismicity related to geothermal power generation (conventional
systems and enhanced geothermal systems.
Specific RD&D priorities:
· Commercial development of EGS.
· Development of better exploration, resource confirmation and management tools.
· Development of deep (>3 000 m) geothermal resources.
· Geothermal co-generation (power and heat).

CHAPTER 6
ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE
6.1 ADVANTAGES
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1) It is a renewable source of energy.
2) By far, it is non-polluting and environment friendly.
3) There is no wastage or generation of by-products.
4) Geothermal energy can be used directly. In ancient times, people used this source of
energy for heating homes, cooking, etc.
5) Maintenance cost of geothermal power plants is very less.
6) Geothermal power plants don't occupy too much space and thus help in protecting
natural environment.
7) Unlike solar energy, it is not dependent on the weather conditions.

6.2 DISADVANTAGES
1) Only few sites have the potential of Geothermal Energy.
2) Most of the sites, where geothermal energy is produced, are far from markets or
cities, where it needs to be consumed.
3) Total generation potential of this source is too small.
4) There is always a danger of eruption of volcano.
5) Installation cost of steam power plant is very high.
6) There is no guarantee that the amount of energy which is produced will justify the
capital expenditure and operations costs.
7) It may release some harmful, poisonous gases that can escape through the holes
drilled during construction.

6.3 LIMITATIONS
6.3.1 NOT WIDESPREAD SOURCE OF ENERGY
Since this type of energy is not widely used therefore the unavailability of equipment,
staff, infrastructure, training pose hindrance to the installation of geothermal plants
across the globe. Not enough skilled manpower and availability of suitable build location
pose serious problem in adopting geothermal energy globally.
6.3.2 HIGH INSTALLATION COSTS
To get geothermal energy, requires installation of power plants, to get steam from deep
within the earth and this require huge one time investment and require to hire a
certified installer and skilled staff needs to be recruited and relocated to plant location.
Moreover, electricity towers, stations need to set up to move the power from geothermal
plant to consumer.
6.3.3 CAN RUN OUT OF STEAM
Geothermal sites can run out of steam over a period of time due to drop in temperature
or if too much water is injected to cool the rocks and this may result huge loss for the
companies which have invested heavily in these plants. Due to this factor, companies
have to do extensive initial research before setting up the plant.
6.3.4 SUITED TO PARTICULAR REGION
It is only suitable for regions which have hot rocks below the earth and can produce
steam over a long period of time. For this great research is required which is done by the
companies before setting up the plant and this initial cost runs up the bill in setting up
the geothermal power plant. Some of these regions are near hilly areas or high up in
mountains.
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6.3.5 MAY RELEASE HARMFUL GASES
Geothermal sites may contain some poisonous gases and they can escape deep within the
earth, through the holes drilled by the constructors. The geothermal plant must
therefore be capable enough to contain these harmful and toxic gases.
6.3.6 TRANSPORTATION
Geothermal Energy cannot be easily transported. Once the tapped energy is extracted,
it can be only used in the surrounding areas. Other sources of energy like wood, coal or
oil can be transported to residential areas but this is not a case with geothermal energy.
Also, there is a fear of toxic substances getting released into the atmosphere.
Now that we have gone through the disadvantages of geothermal energy, lets go through
it advantages too and understand why it is Here look at some of the advantages of
geothermal energy.

CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION
Geothermal energy is a renewable en-ergy source that has been utilised econo-mically in
many parts of the world for decades. A great potential for an extensive increase in
worldwide geothermal utilisa-tion has been proven. This is a reliable energy source
which serves both direct use applications and electricity generation. Geothermal energy
is independent of weather conditions and has an inherent storage capability which
makes it especi-ally suitable for supplying base load power in an economical way, and
can thus serve as a partner with energy sources which are only available intermittently.
The rene-wable energy sources can contribute sig-nificantly to the mitigation of climate
change and more so by working as part-ners rather than competing with each other.
Presently, the geothermal utilisation sector growing most rapidly is heat pump appli-
cations. This development is expected to continue in the future making heat pumps the
major direct utilisation sector. The main reason for this is that geothermal heat pumps
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can be installed economically all over the world.
One of the strongest arguments for putting more emphasis on the development of geo-
thermal resources worldwide is the limited environmental impact compared to most
other energy sources.
Geothermal heating system can replace fossil fuel heating system in a particular area.
Annual costs for common heating purposes can be reduced by more than 60%.
Continued energy shortages have created added interest in geothermal energy for
power generation.
Potential exists to provide all energy requirements in the U.S
Geothermal energy appears to be a partial solution to our energy needs.

CHAPTER 8
REFERENCES
· http://www.mav.com/Disadvantages_micro air vehicle.php
· http://energyalmanac.ca.gov/renewables/micro air vehicle/types.html
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/micro air vehicle
· http://mav.org/Basics.aspx
· http://www.micro air vehicle-future.com/mav.php
· http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/types_of_energy/4568/
geothermal/471158//mav
· http://www.mavworld.com/rea/tech//air energy/geoelectricity
· http://www.powerscorecard.org/tech_detail.cfm?resource_id=3
· http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/how-
micro air vehicle-works.html
· http://lsa.colorado.edu/essence/texts//micro air vehiclel.html

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