Geothermal Energy as a Source of Electricity: A Worldwide Survey of the Design and Operation of Geothermal Power Plants

This U. S. Department of Energy survey teaches that electricity from geothermal resources is viable, and that its commercial risks are no different from those associated with the established and more familiar technologies. Geothermal power has proved beneficial for a number of countires, and will play a particularly important role in such developing countries as El Salvador and the Philippines, primarily because of its simplicity of construction, operation, and maintenance. It has demonstrated the ability to achieve capacity factors (ratio of kilowatt-hours produced per annum to the maximum possible) exceeding 80%. The comparable figure for fossil plants is only about 50%. In those applications, geothermal power has proved to be economical, and clearly less expensive than installations using oil, coal or nuclear fuel.

This survey should have broad appeal, particularly among energy planners. This book should convince them that geothermal electric power generation is already very important in some parts of the world, that the unrealized potential of geothermal energy should be recognized, and that it must constitute an integral part of any plan to solve the energy problems facing the United States.