The Basics

There are 2 Main types of Geothermal Energy

1. Conventional

Natural ancient heat from the earth's core comes from friction when continental plates slide over each other, from radioactive elements decomposing and from recent volcanism. 

The groundwater then becomes heated by this heat, but does not turn into steam because of the immense pressure. This extremely hot water travels upwards until it becomes trapped by the earth's crust. 

This hot water can be drilled for much like oil and natural gas is drilled for. Released from the pressure, the water becomes steam in a "flash" process and power a turbine in flash power plants.

A dry steam plant is very similar to the flash power plant except that the water underground i already in the form of steam.

In a binary power plant, the hot water heats another liquid which powers the turbine.

This turbine is connected to a generator, which then is wired to take the electricity to your home.

The leftover water can be re-piped down into the underground reservoirs, where it can be sustainably reused again and again.

2. Hot Dry Rock

Geothermal energy is limited to where geothermal reservoirs are, however, scientists are looking into a way to produce geothermal energy using hot dry rock.

They drill into hot dry rock and then use hydraulic pressure to fracture it, creating a reservoir similar to ones found underground at conventional geothermal plants. 

Similarly, the water is then heated by the rock, becomes steam and spins a turbine connected to a generator to produce electricity.

Currently, technology is not advanced enough to be produced commercially at a reasonable price, but keep checking our blog for the latest news.