What is a geothermal power station?

Geothermal power station refers to a power station that uses underground hot water, steam or high-temperature rock mass as primary energy. The basic principle of geothermal power generation is similar to that of thermal power generation, and it is also based on the principle of energy conversion. First, geothermal energy is converted into mechanical energy, and then mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy. Geothermal power generation is actually an energy conversion process that converts underground thermal energy into mechanical energy and then converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.

At present, it is estimated that the geothermal power generation potential is 352000GW. 1× 104m is the sum of all geothermal energy close to the surface, which is more than 50,000 times of the sum of all oil and natural gas resources on the earth, and is enough to provide the world's energy demand. At present, the installed capacity of geothermal facilities in the world is1.0715×104mw, and these facilities produced 700×108kw h of electricity in 20 10. These geothermal energies are produced by 24 countries, among which the output of the United States is in the leading position, which is 3GW；; Followed by the Philippines, Iceland and El Salvador. Geothermal energy produced in these countries meets more than 25% of electricity demand.

One of the great advantages of geothermal power plants is that they can generate electricity continuously for 24 hours. Only nuclear power plants and fossil fuel power plants can do this in other forms of power plants. From this point of view, these forms of power plants are far superior to wind and solar power plants, because the efficiency of wind and solar power plants is relatively low and the downtime is unpredictable.

Geothermal energy is a sustainable fuel, because it is almost an infinite resource and very clean. At present, the average CO2 emission intensity of geothermal power plants is about122 ~ 400 kg/(MW h), while that of traditional coal-fired power plants is about1t/(MW h). What is more noteworthy is that geothermal power plants need very little land area and water resources. On average, a geothermal power plant needs an area of 404m2 per GWh, while coal-fired power plants and wind power plants need 3643m2 and 2335m2 respectively. Geothermal power plants need to consume 20L of fresh water per MWh, while nuclear power plants, coal plants and oil plants need more than 1000L of water resources in the same situation.