Geothermal Energy (Geothermal Electricity): History and Forecast

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 30 April 2010

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History of Geothermal Energy (Geothermal Electricity)

Geothermal energy has found its way into the limelight, following the oil crisis and increased focus on the environment. However, development efforts centered on harnessing this source of energy to generate electricity dates back to the early twentieth century. Geothermal electricity, which refers to electricity generated by heat trapped beneath the surface of the Earth, made its debut by lighting five bulbs. On July 4, 1904, Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the world’s first geothermal generator at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy. Merely a couple of years later, this invention was deployed commercially and used to operate drilling equipment. Soon the small town of Larderello was using geothermal power for all its electricity requirements.

Although the almost immediate commercialization of this invention caused many heads to turn, Italy remained the world’s sole industrial producer of geothermal electricity for a number of years. It was not until half a century later that New Zealand became the world’s second industrial producer of electricity from geothermal energy. Two years later, in 1960, the United States jumped onto the bandwagon, generating electricity from The Geysers Geothermal Field located some 75 miles north of San Francisco, California. In fact, The Geysers remains the world’s largest geothermal development. California is now home to the world’s largest producer of geothermal energy, Chevron Corporation, which has the capacity to provide power to more than seven million homes.

International Geothermal Energy Use

Geothermal energy is used commercially in over 70 countries. However, only about one-third of these nations use geothermal energy to generate electricity. The governments of a number of countries are beginning to realize the advantages of, and therefore increase their support for, the development and use of geothermal energy as a source of electricity.

Today, over 20 nations are generating geothermal power, including Iceland, Germany, France, Mexico, Costa Rica, Russia, the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Japan. Geothermal energy is one of the two main sources of energy in Iceland, the other being hydro power. Geothermal energy from natural steam, hot water and hot dry rocks is used to generate “clean” electricity. Mexico, which has among the world’s highest installed capacity of geothermal energy, meets more than 3% of its electricity requirements from geothermal energy. The Philippines is second only the United States as the world’s largest producer of geothermal energy, according to the International Geothermal Association (IGA). Geothermal energy generates 27% of the total electricity needs of the Philippines.

Geothermal Energy Prospects

Australia has ample hot rock that could be used to generate geothermal electricity. The Centre for International Economics estimates that the country has sufficient geothermal energy to generate electricity for 450 years.

While a lot has been accomplished in converting geothermal energy into electricity, there is still a long way to go. Geothermal electricity is a price competitive, emission free solution to the intensifying energy woes and its development and use are likely to gain more and more support worldwide. <


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