Geothermal

[Richard Ha]

Aloha James;
Thanks for the starting this good discussion. You pointed out two of my comments as "without citing a reputable source". I have citations.


Here is the first....

“…estimated cost of geothermal production is less than 10 cents kWh according to a recent study.” Note; I could have said 8.7 cents per kWh, but I just rounded up to 10 cents to be conservative.

http://maui-tomorrow.org/pdf/geothermal-...ent-05.pdf

ASSESSMENT OF ENERGY RESERVES AND COSTS OF GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES IN HAWAII
GeothermEx, Inc. Richmond, California
30 SEPTEMBER 2005

From the executive summary.
For the purposes of this simulation, we have assumed unit capital costs in the range of $2,500 to $5,000 per installed kilowatt (with a most likely value of $3,500 per installed kilowatt) and O&M costs in the range of 4 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. From these parameters and several others, we estimate a mean levelized power cost of 7.84 cents per kilowatt-hour, with a standard deviation of 0.70 cents per kilowatt-hour. With a cumulative probability of 90%, levelized cost is expected to be higher than 7.0 ¢/kWh but lower than 8.7¢/kWh.


Here is the second.
“A Wall Street article quoted geothermal as costing the equivalent of $57 per barrel.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapita...says-hsbc/

......For instance, HSBC estimates costs per megawatt for different options: Combined-cycle gas, 43 euros; regular coal, 62 euros; onshore wind, 58 euros; nuclear power, 48 euros; geothermal, 43 euros. Photovoltaic solar power costs 290 euros per megawatt; concentrated solar power 181 euros.

Or put another way: What price would oil or gas have to be for each technology to be break-even without subsidies, using combined-cycle gas turbines as the low-cost yardstick?

.....Geothermal is the cheapest: It is competitive with natural gas at $5.16 per million BTUs or oil at $57 a barrel. Nuclear power breaks even at $6.26 and $69.

Traditional, onshore wind power breaks even with gas at $8.33 or oil at $92. Offshore wind still needs a push: It requires gas at $17.14 or oil at $189.

In contrast, solar thermal needs to see natural gas at $35.66 or oil at $393. And good old photovoltaic solar, like the kind on rooftops? Natural gas needs to be at $59.61 or oil at $657 a barrel....