For people more people more knowledgeable than me, what reasons are there for me not to get excited about this closed loop geothermal? Beyond just the expense of it, is it durability and life span of casings at high temps? Why shouldn't I get excited about this for the Alberta oil and gas industry and clean energy in general?
Here are a couple of videos about closed loop, deep well geothermal electricity generation and Eavor Technologies, a Calgary based company working in this field.
Mostly cost. Unless there can be some scalability it'll be tough to compete with wind and solar. I do see it playing a role, but it'll be geographical where skills exist (Alberta), or access is easier (nearer high temperature geothermal zones). Dig deep with you can go anywhere but cost goes waaaaaaaaaaaay up
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Mostly cost. Unless there can be some scalability it'll be tough to compete with wind and solar. I do see it playing a role, but it'll be geographical where skills exist (Alberta), or access is easier (nearer high temperature geothermal zones). Dig deep with you can go anywhere but cost goes waaaaaaaaaaaay up
In the second video, an engineer from Eavor mentions they envision their use case as baseload energy for wind and solar. I was guessing it was because it would be much more expensive. I would guess, beyond the upfront development cost, it should be very cheap to operate bringing down the energy/$ ratio each year. Seems a bit like the planting a tree analogy:
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago and the second best is today.
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In the second video, an engineer from Eavor mentions they envision their use case as baseload energy for wind and solar. I was guessing it was because it would be much more expensive. I would guess, beyond the upfront development cost, it should be very cheap to operate bringing down the energy/$ ratio each year. Seems a bit like the planting a tree analogy:
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago and the second best is today.
This is also how I see it, but it'll still need to complete with other baseload options like emerging storage solutions, nuclear, hydropower and even HCDC transmission. If it's low cost (meaning shallow higher temperature geothermal heat available) it'll be able to beat the other options. It'll also work where there'll be political will to use existing skills and technologies like Alberta.
I'm really hoping it works out better and Eavor is looking promising, but cost improvement from scalability will be difficult as each site is always unique. I do think the technology is already viable and a success, but it's overall impact will be all about cost and political will to invest. The difficulty in predicting cost curves and political winds makes this difficult.
For example, if politics didn't exist and carbon emission elimination the goal, BC would build out hydro and Alberta would keep adding more wind and solar, while building a bunch of big inter-ties and we'd be good. An example of where the political winds help, Germany's investment in expensive solar is what allowed for the cheap solar we have today. It's certainly possible that geothermal can scale, otherwise you wouldn't see so much investment.
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An interesting article that I was sent. The Western narrative aside to doubt everything and anything to do with China, it seems like it's quite ambitious and I'm looking forward to how this progresses over the next number of years. They've certainly been able to improve the situation of their country by pouring money into the modernization of their infrastructure and technology instead of funding the exports of weapons, etc.
The solar momentum in China is masked by the fact that they have approved a massive amount of coal plants in 2022.
270 gigawatts, which is more than they installed in 2021.
Unless that number starts dropping quickly, no amount of solar installation will make a difference in the short term.
Which is also why we need to switch coal to natural gas pronto.
The solar momentum in China is masked by the fact that they have approved a massive amount of coal plants in 2022.
270 gigawatts, which is more than they installed in 2021.
Unless that number starts dropping quickly, no amount of solar installation will make a difference in the short term.
Which is also why we need to switch coal to natural gas pronto.
I don't disagree, but China's energy growth is different from the west. China needs to provide light and heat to a developing population. The west for the most part has enough electricity except for natural growth while China is trying to catch up to living standards. Despite all the growth in wind and solar, it's not enough so here we are. We can tell them they can't while our living standards increase and theirs stay the same, but that seems a bit hypocritical
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I don't disagree, but China's energy growth is different from the west. China needs to provide light and heat to a developing population. The west for the most part has enough electricity except for natural growth while China is trying to catch up to living standards. Despite all the growth in wind and solar, it's not enough so here we are. We can tell them they can't while our living standards increase and theirs stay the same, but that seems a bit hypocritical
They could maybe build fewer ghost cities...I hear that produces some emmisions.
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I don't disagree, but China's energy growth is different from the west. China needs to provide light and heat to a developing population. The west for the most part has enough electricity except for natural growth while China is trying to catch up to living standards. Despite all the growth in wind and solar, it's not enough so here we are. We can tell them they can't while our living standards increase and theirs stay the same, but that seems a bit hypocritical
Plus we couldnt enforce that if we wanted to.
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I don't disagree, but China's energy growth is different from the west. China needs to provide light and heat to a developing population. The west for the most part has enough electricity except for natural growth while China is trying to catch up to living standards. Despite all the growth in wind and solar, it's not enough so here we are. We can tell them they can't while our living standards increase and theirs stay the same, but that seems a bit hypocritical
Does China not have access to natural gas? Or not the expertise to build the infrastructure to use it?
From a quick read, looks like they have massive reserves, but either it is not possible to get it out, or they lack the expertise.
Quote:
China should be able to produce more than enough natural gas to meet its own needs.
China holds the world’s largest reserves of shale natural gas, according the US Energy Information Administration. However, much of that gas is considered recoverable only if cost were not a constraint.
Furthermore, the country is among the top 10 holders of proven natural gas reserves, gas that could be produced at current prices, at 5.4 trillion cubic metres, according to the most recent BP Statistical Review.
Together, China’s three biggest gas basins, the Ordos in northern China, the Tarim in the Xinjiang region in the west, and Sichuan province in the southwest, make up 90 per cent of the country’s output, but each of them are beset with geological or technological difficulties.
The natural trend is to go from heating oils, to coal, to natural gas / nuclear to renewables. To think that developing nations will somehow skip some of these steps is rather foolish. China is proving that despite massive investments in renewables, it is not possibly to meet energy demands without massive fossil fuel developments. That is why the idea that Canada should not develop our own natural gas resources and export it to the developing world, who would otherwise rely on coal is mind-blowingly short sighted. LNG from the west coast is already a proven money making asset. We should be going crazy building more output.
I have zero knowledge about their gas field developments, but their long term goal is to become carbon neutral and eliminate fossil fuel usage. Their coal fields are already developed and Australia is a willing partner for cheap coal so investing in gas field technology at this stage probably isn't wise. But I may be waaaaaaaaaaaay off base there
Naturally being that it is China, who really does not care about emissions, it is far cheaper and more reliable to build more coal capacity.
Even nuclear, which they seemingly have the potential of building, cannot make a dent in the overall usage of coal as their main energy provider. Crazy that after so many years, coal is still at 60% usage.
Naturally being that it is China, who really does not care about emissions, it is far cheaper and more reliable to build more coal capacity.
Even nuclear, which they seemingly have the potential of building, cannot make a dent in the overall usage of coal as their main energy provider. Crazy that after so many years, coal is still at 60% usage.
It makes sense though, I posted a while ago about the rapid industrialization of Africa...they are going to burn whatever they can get their hands on and we cant really step in and tell them anything.
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EU has power consumption limits for TV's. 8K TV's need more backlight power due to small pixel size, so the only way to meet the regulations is to dim the display so much it would be too dark to watch.
Seems pretty minor, something industry and gov will eventuality sort out.
They might be dragged back to reality kicking and screaming, but even Germany starting to come around again on nuclear. They are extending the life of their 3 operating nuclear plants. The say it's only till April...my guess is it will be long-term.
