Geothermal power plants are going to have great potential in preventing climate change
The new geothermal power plant will be a big step forward in producing environmentally friendly electricity. A leading utility company recently supported the largest new geothermal power plant in the U.S.A., which is considered highly effective in fighting climate change.
Fervo Energy, a company based in Houston, is constructing a power plant that can produce up to 400 megawatts of eco-friendly electricity, sufficient to power about 400,000 homes.
On June 23, 2024, Fervo mentioned that Southern California Edison will purchase electricity from their new renewable power plant.
Researchers say that using environmentally friendly electricity can help reduce our reliance on traditional power plants and mitigate climate change.
Wilson Ricks, a researcher at Princeton University’s Department of Energy Systems, said this initiative will significantly reduce the cost of new geothermal power.
If these purchases can get the technology off the ground, it could have a major impact on decarbonizing the world.
Decarbonization refers to the removal of various substances that produce carbon dioxide and methane, which cause climate change. And instead using different machines and methods where there is no such risk.
“The world still relies on fossil fuels for 24-hour electricity,” said Sarah Jewett, Farvo’s vice president of planning. However, this new contract shows potential to meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly electricity.
“That’s why it’s so exciting,” she added. It is not a special source of energy, which has to be used for special purposes. This is something that is readily available, but we haven’t had the opportunity to do so. And there is a possibility of increasing its range in the future.
The first generation of geothermal plants included the ‘California geyser’. It produced superheated steam or hot water near the Earth’s surface. And such reservoirs are somewhat rare.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, the United States is one of the world’s leading producers of geothermal energy. However, its role in the country’s overall electricity generation is less than half a percent.
In 2021, Fervo signed the world’s first corporate agreement with Google to develop new geothermal energy. Apart from this, the company also drilled three wells in the US state of Nevada.
In addition, the project started sending carbon-free electricity to various power centres on the Nevada grid since November last year.
