The Geothermal Working Group, established by the Hawaii legislature to evaluate the potential for further geothermal development, recently released its 72-page interim report below:
The group’s principal findings suggest that “Geothermal has a significant potential to be Big Island’s primary energy resource.”
"The consensus among credible resource scientists and many economists is that petroleum prices will rise to unprecedented levels in a few years," the report says. "Since (the) Big Island uses oil for 90 percent of its power, this is of the utmost concern to leaders in government and business." Lloyd's of London suggests that the cost of a barrel of oil could more than double to $200 by 2013.
...members of the group have found that multiple geothermal plants are the most prudent approach, yielding a low-cost energy source with the potential to supply baseload energy...
The report notes that geothermal energy is cost-competitive with oil — estimating that it costs $57 per barrel, in contrast to the price of oil, which this month has been trading at about $88 per barrel. Geothermal energy, according to the report, also can produce ammonia, which can be used to power internal combustion engines and aid local agriculture as a fertilizer. What impact the report could have on the investment of private capital into the expansion of geothermal energy on the Big Island remains unclear. Michael Kaleikini, plant manager for Puna Geothermal Venture, said he hadn’t seen the report, and so couldn’t comment, but noted that there were other potential geothermal companies that could play a role in developing geothermal energy on the Big Island.
There is an urgency to developing new energy resources because Hawai‘i, like most of the world, is overwhelmingly dependent upon depleting supplies of fossil fuels. The consensus among credible resource scientists and many economists is that petroleum prices will rise to unprecedented levels in a few years. Since Big Island uses oil for 90 percent of its power, this is of the utmost concern to leaders in government and business. Hawai‘i is the most petroleum-dependent state in the nation; the Big Island alone exports $1 billion annually to purchase oil for power. Geothermal is viewed as an important component in a suite of local and available energy resource.
Geothermal is one of Hawai‘i’s main energy building blocks. Unlike solar and wind power, it is what’s called a “firm” resource—-always there. Molten rock (magma) remains below Earth’s crust, heating nearby rock, rainwater, and seawater that has seeped deep into the earth. Once those geothermal waters are brought to the surface, fresh-water steam is created and sent to the power plant driving turbines that in turn drive a generator to produce electricity. Afterward, the brine and gases are re-injected back into the ground below the water table.
Binary-cycle plants are the most advanced. Their closed-loop circulation system means that no excess gases or fluids reach the open air. Hawai‘i’s geothermal power plant utilizes the closed-loop binary system.
Below is Richard Ha talking with "The Solar Guy" Jeff Davis on the potential of geothermal.
