| comments |
| Steam turbine for geothermal power plants |
| pages : 1 : home page |
| George Lockett 30.10.11 20:28 messages : 1 |
| Geothermal Power Stations on North Sea Rigs – the Question is, Decommission or Convert? The All-Energy 2011 Conference and Exhibition held in Aberdeen, Scotland in May, was the perfect location to consider the future use of North Sea platforms when the oil and gas fields become uneconomic for carrying on production. With Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, which produces most of its power from Geothermal, situated just 500 miles North West of Scotland and with a grid of electrical power cables shortly to be laid offshore to connect offshore Wind Farms back to the on-shore National Grid, Geothermal Energy is becoming more and more cost-effective in the North Sea. It is time to look for alternate uses for offshore platforms when it becomes uneconomic for them to continue production. One alternate use could be the extraction of geothermal energy. The continental shelf in the UK where these platforms are situated has a relatively thin earth's crust, giving the wells high bottom-hole temperatures. Heat from these wells can be utilised to generate electricity and, by the use of submersible cables, to help power the national grid. The rigs are surrounded by cold sea water, which is at a much lower temperature than the on-shore air cooling towers that are the conventional way of condensing the working fluids after they have passed through the turbines. Governments around the world are constantly looking for new, innovative forms of energy. Geothermal energy has by far the greatest potential when put in context with the reserves of all forms of energy. When one looks at the planet on which we live, we see that all the fossil fuels, i.e. coal, oil and gas, come from the earth's crust. The crust makes up only 0.4% of the total mass of the planet, the remaining 99.6% being hotter than 500°C within the crust, increasing to 5,000°C at the core. The pressures are constantly generating the heat naturally. This means that geothermal energy is infinite in its nature, as it is naturally renewable. There are many areas of the world where reservoirs exist naturally. These are usually associated with fault lines between continents, and volcanic areas where hot springs, geysers and fumaroles are common. Recent research carried out in Russia in the Kola Peninsula has revealed moving fluids and open fractures at depths in excess of 12 kilometres. This discovery has led to a review of current deep geological thinking and has opened up the development of geothermal energy extraction for electrical power generation. George E. Lockett, who has been researching Geothermal Energy for the last 35 years, said at the exhibition: “Geothermal Energy has the potential to extend the life of North Sea rigs by a further 30 years both by being used for Electrical Power generation and by bringing Geothermal Heat from a lower level to heat up oil fields to help recover the heavier tar oils, etc.” George is also working with U.S. partners to convert Texas oil wells into Geothermal Power Stations and use the electricity for topping up the Electrical Grid and for Hydrogen Generation through fuel cells. A lot of attention has been paid to Turbine design, and George is undertaking a research project in the U.S. with partners to compare four different designs of turbines, which all have different characteristics, to assess the most efficient design for each temperature band and type of Geothermal Energy Source. A team of experts is being drawn together to move forward on this project. Those who feel they may have a contribution to make to the development of Geothermal Energy in offshore applications can contact George E. Lockett by email: George.lockett39@gmail.com In areas like the North Sea, UK oil and gas drilling is carried out from platforms. Normally up to 20 wells are drilled from a single platform. Each year the oil output of these well falls by 16% and at some point in time they will be uneconomic to continue to use for oil production. These platforms have the advantage that they are on the continental shelf, where the earth's crust is thin. High bottom-hole temperatures, combined with large quantities of cold sea water, make them ideal locations for geothermal energy power generation. If it makes economic sense to connect the UK to France by cables to utilise cheap French nuclear power, then it must also make economic sense to connect these platforms to the mainland to utilise geothermal power. |
| reply |
| pages : 1 : home page |
| © Construction and Maintenance News |