EGS Industry
Commercial projects are currently either operational or under development in the UK, Australia, the United States, France and Germany.
The largest project in the world is being developed in Australia's Cooper Basin by Geodynamics. The Cooper Basin project has the potential to develop 5–10 GW. Australia now has 33 firms either exploring for, drilling, or developing EGS projects. Australia's industry has been greatly aided by a national Renewable Portfolio Standard of 25% renewables by 2025, a vibrant Green Energy Credit market, and supportive collaboration between government, academia, and industry.
Germany's now 25 cent/kWh Feed-In Tariff (FIT) for geothermal energy has led to a surge in geothermal development, despite Germany's relatively poor geothermal resource. The Landau partial EGS project is profitable today under the FIT. Drawing on the success of the Landau project, EGS Energy are developing sites in the UK. The first of these will be built in collaboration with the Eden Project.
The AltaRock Energy effort is a demonstration project being conducted to prove out the company's proprietary technology at the site of an existing geothermal project owned and operated by NCPA in The Geysers, and does not include power generation. However, any steam produced by the project will be supplied to NCPA's flash turbines under a long-term contract.
| Project | Type | Country | Size (MW) | Plant Type | Depth (km) | Developer | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soultz | R&D | France (EU) | 1.5 | Binary | 4.2 | ENGINE | Operational |
| Landau | Commercial | Germany (EU) | 3 | Binary | 3.3 | ? | Operational |
| Aardwarmte Den Haag | Commercial | Netherlands (EU) | 6 MW(th) | Thermal | 2.0 | Municipality, Eneco, E.On Benelux, IF Tech | Operational 2012; wells tested 2010. Heating 4,000 homes in central city. |
| Desert Peak | R&D | United States | 11–50 | Binary | DOE, Ormat, GeothermEx | Development | |
| Paralana (Phase 1) | Commercial | Australia | 7–30 | Binary | 4.1 | Petratherm | Drilling |
| Cooper Basin | Commercial | Australia | 250–500 | Kalina | 4.3 | Geodynamics | Drilling |
| The Geysers | Demonstration | United States | (Unknown) | Flash | 3.5 – 3.8 | AltaRock Energy, NCPA | Suspended (Oct 2009) |
| Bend, Oregon | Demonstration | United States | (Unknown) | 2 - 3 | AltaRock Energy, Davenport Newberry, DOE | Permitting (Mar 2010) | |
| Ogachi | R&D | Japan | (Unknown) | 1.0 – 1.1 | CO2 experiments | ||
| United Downs, Redruth | Commercial | United Kingdom | 10 MW | Binary | 4.5 | Geothermal Engineering Ltd | Fundraising |
| Eden Project | Commercial | United Kingdom | 3 MW | Binary | 3–4 | EGS Energy Ltd. | Fundraising |
Read more about this topic: Enhanced Geothermal System
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