The Geysers
The Geysers | |
---|---|
Calpine Corporation | |
Geothermal power station | |
Type | Dry steam |
Wells | 376 (active)[1] 591 (total)[1] |
Max. well depth | 12,900 ft (3,900 m)[1] |
Site area | 29,000 acres (120 km2)[1] |
Power generation | |
Units operational | 22 units (18 power stations) |
Units planned | 3 units |
Units decommissioned | 7 units (4 power stations) |
Annual net output | 6,516 GWh (2018)[3] |
External links | |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
] |
The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field, containing a complex of 18 geothermal power plants, drawing steam from more than 350 wells, located in the Mayacamas Mountains approximately 72 miles (116 km) north of San Francisco, California.
Geysers produced about 20% of California's renewable energy in 2019.[4]
History
For about 12,000 years, Native American tribes built steambaths and thermal pools at the Geysers and used the steam and hot water for healing purposes, as well as spiritual and ceremonial practices, and cooking.
The Geysers were first seen by European Americans and named in 1847 during
Between 1848 and 1854,
Five of the Geysers facilities were damaged in the Valley Fire of September 2015, suffering "severe" damage to their cooling towers. The main power houses were not damaged.[10] The Kincade Fire was reported burning at John Kincade Road and Burned Mountain Road in The Geysers, at 9:27 PM on October 23, 2019.[11][12] The fire started at 9:24 PM during an extreme wind event,[13] and subsequently burned 77,758 acres (31,468 ha) until the fire was fully contained on November 6.
The Geysers Geothermal Power Development project was designated as a California Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the San Francisco Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1976.[14]
Geothermal development
The Geysers is the world's largest geothermal field
Steam used at The Geysers is produced from a
The first geothermal wells drilled in Geyser Canyon were the first in the Western Hemisphere.
By 1999 the steam to power extraction had begun to deplete the Geysers steam field and production began to drop.[8] However, since October 16, 1997, the Geysers steam field has been recharged by injection of treated sewage effluent, producing approximately 77 megawatts of capacity in 2004.[21] The effluent is piped up to 50 miles (80 km) from its source at the Lake County Sanitation waste water treatment plants and added to the Geysers steam field via geothermal injection.[21] In 2003, the City of Santa Rosa and Calpine Corporation partnered on constructing a 42-mile pipeline that became known at the Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project (SRGRP). Since 2003, SRGRP has delivered approximately 11 million gallons per day of tertiary treated wastewater to replenish The Geysers’ geothermal reservoir. In 2004, 85% of the effluent produced by four waste-water treatment plants serving 10 Lake County communities was diverted to the Geysers steam field.[21] Injecting treated water into the Geysers field increases the amount of power that can be generated.[21]
The injection of wastewater to the Geysers protects local waterways and Clear Lake by diverting effluent which used to be put into surface waters,[21] and has produced electricity without releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.[8]
Geothermal power stations
This is a table of all constituent geothermal power stations sorted by unit identification.[2]
In addition, Ormat owns the plans for a new 30 MW geothermal power station at the vacant Calpine 15 site that were acquired through a merger with U.S. Geothermal in 2018. The plans were previously developed by Ram Power before being sold to U.S. Geothermal in 2014.[2][22][23]
Name | Unit | Type | Status | Capacity ( MWel )
|
Commissioned | Decommissioned |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bottle Rock | BRP | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | March 1985 [note 1] October 2007 |
|
Aidlin | Calpine 1 | Dry steam | Operational | 20 | May 1989 | |
Bear Canyon | Calpine 2 | Dry steam | Operational | 20 | September 1988 | |
Sonoma | Calpine 3 | Dry steam | Operational | 78 | December 1983 | |
West Ford Flat | Calpine 4 | Dry steam | Operational | 27 | December 1988 | |
McCabe | Calpine 5 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | April 1971 | |
Calpine 6 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | April 1971 | ||
Ridge Line | Calpine 7 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | July 1972 | |
Calpine 8 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | July 1972 | ||
Fumarole | Calpine 9 | Dry steam | Offline since 2001 | 55 | November 1973 | |
Calpine 10 | Dry steam | Offline since 2000 | 55 | November 1973 | ||
Eagle Rock | Calpine 11 | Dry steam | Operational | 110 | December 1975 | |
Cobb Creek | Calpine 12 | Dry steam | Operational | 110 | August 1979 | |
Big Geysers | Calpine 13 | Dry steam | Operational | 60 | April 1980 | |
Sulfur Springs | Calpine 14 | Dry steam | Operational | 114 | February 1980 | |
PG&E 15 [note 2] | Calpine 15 | Dry steam | Decommissioned | 62 | June 1979 | 1997 (Dismantled) |
Quicksilver | Calpine 16 | Dry steam | Operational | 119 | October 1985 | |
Lake View | Calpine 17 | Dry steam | Operational | 119 | November 1982 | |
Socrates | Calpine 18 | Dry steam | Operational | 119 | November 1983 | |
Calistoga | Calpine 19 | Dry steam | Operational | 80 | March 1984 | |
Grant | Calpine 20 | Dry steam | Operational | 119 | October 1985 | |
Buckeye | Calpine | Dry steam | Planned | ? | TBD | |
Wild Horse | Calpine | Dry steam | Planned | ? | TBD | |
Coldwater Creek | CCPA 1 | Dry steam | Decommissioned | 65 | May 1988 | 2000 (Dismantled) |
CCPA 2 | Dry steam | Decommissioned | 65 | October 1988 | 2000 (Dismantled) | |
NCPA 1 & 2 | NCPA 1 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | February 1983 | |
NCPA 2 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | February 1983 | ||
NCPA 3 & 4 | NCPA 3 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | November 1985 | |
NCPA 4 | Dry steam | Operational | 55 | November 1985 | ||
TBD | Ormat | Dry steam | Planned | 30 | TBD | |
PG&E 1 & 2 | PG&E 1 |
Dry steam | Decommissioned | 12 | September 1960 | 1993 (Dismantled) |
PG&E 2 |
Dry steam | Decommissioned | 14 | September 1960 | 1993 (Dismantled) | |
PG&E 3 & 4 | PG&E 3 |
Dry steam | Decommissioned | 28 | March 1963 | 1995 (Dismantled) |
PG&E 4 |
Dry steam | Decommissioned | 28 | March 1963 | 1995 (Dismantled) |
Seismicity
For the past several decades, small earthquakes (less than 2.0) are regularly recorded in the area.[24] It has been estimated that 99% of all seismic activity at and surrounding The Geysers is around 3.0 or smaller. In fact, "the frequency of seismic events greater than 3.0 have been trending downward since 1990". Due to the remote location it is very infrequent for humans to feel the effect of this tectonic shake. Typically seismic activity in this area is measured using seismometers that can pick up on micro seismicity down to extremely minute levels.[25] This has been demonstrated to be caused by the water injection process used to produce the geothermal electricity at the power plant.[26]
According to the
Geochemistry
In 2005, abatement equipment was installed at two of the Geysers plants to reduce the amount of mercury released by the waste vapor even though the amount released was below the legal limit for such releases.[15] The Geysers Air Monitoring Programs (GAMP) has shown limited releases of arsenic, but again below a significant level.[15]
Production
Power plants at the Geysers are of the dry steam power plant type, where the steam directly powers the generator.
Of nearly two dozen active plants in the Geysers in 2014,
Geology
The Geysers is located on the northeast limb of the Mayacamas
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Geysers By The Numbers". geysers.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
- ^ )
- ^ "Electricity Data Browser - List of plants for geothermal, California, all sectors". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
- ^ McCarthy, Will (2020-02-06). "The pros and cons of enhanced geothermal energy systems". Yale Climate Connections. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Hodgson, Susan F. (2010). A Geysers Album: Five Eras of Geothermal History (PDF). Sacramento: State of California Department of Conservation. pp. 1–81. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ISBN 9780806135892.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Lund, John W. (October 1995). "Historical Impacts of Geothermal Resources on the People of North America" (PDF). GeoHeat Center Bulletin.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4668-3386-9. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ^ "A History of Geothermal Energy in the United States". U.S. Department of Energy. 2010. Archived from the original on September 4, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2007.
- ^ "Valley Fire Devastates Facilities At The Geysers Geothermal Power Plant". CBS Bay Area. 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
- ^ Chabria, Anita; Dolan, Maura (October 27, 2019). "Blackouts and mass evacuations as Kincade fire grows amid high winds". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
- ^ Graff, Amy (2019-10-24). "Map: Kincade Fire burning in north Sonoma County". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
- ^ "Kincade Fire: Why PG&E is on the hot seat again over latest devastating wildfire". The Mercury News. 2019-10-25. Retrieved 2019-11-06.
- ^ Rintoul, Bill (August 10, 1976). "Kern County oilfields news". The Bakersfield Californian. p. 20.
- ^ a b c d e Kagel, Alyssa; Diana Bates; Karl Gawell. A Guide to Geothermal Energy and the Environment (PDF). Geothermal Energy Association. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ^ "Calpine Corporation - The Geysers". Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ Enedy, Steve; Kathy Enedy; John Maney (1991). Reservoir Response To Injection In The Southeast Geysers (PDF). Sixteenth Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering. Retrieved May 16, 2007.
- ^ "Cascades Volcanic Observatory (USGS) - Clear Lake Volcanic Field, California". Retrieved May 16, 2007.
- ISSN 0276-1084, retrieved April 13, 2009
- ISSN 1556-7230.
- ^ a b c d e Dellinger, Mark; Eliot Allen (May–June 2004). Geothermal and the Environment Lake County Success: Generating environmental gains with geothermal Power (PDF). Lake County, California.
- ^ "Ormat Technologies Inc. - Press Release". investor.ormat.com. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
- ^ "Ram Power becomes Polaris Infrastructure Inc". Think GeoEnergy - Geothermal Energy News. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
- ^ "List of Earthquakes for San Francisco".
- ^ "Seismicity". geysers.com. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
- ^ "Why are there so many earthquakes in the Geysers area in Northern California?".
- ^ a b c d "EGS: The Geysers: What is the history of seismicity at The Geysers?". Induced seismicity. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ^ "M4.5 - 6km NW of The Geysers, California". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ^ "M 3.8 - 0km WNW of The Geysers, CA". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-7506-8620-4.
- ^ Lund, John W.; Bloomquist, R. Gordon; Boyd, Tonya L.; Renner, Joel (24–29 April 2005), The United States of America Country Update (PDF), Proceedings World Geothermal Congress, Antalya, Turkey, retrieved 2009-11-09
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ISBN 978-1-59370-005-8.
- ^ Wilkison, Brett (November 15, 2013). "Sonoma Clean Power makes deal with Geysers operator". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ^ Baker (January 14, 2007). "Steamy industry may clear the air / Geothermal energy producers try to develop more plants -- and more public awareness". San Francisco Chronicle. Lake County. p. F-1. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
- ^ Davis, Tina (January 28, 2013). "Ram Power CEO and CFO to Depart, Seeks Buyer for Geysers Project". Bloomberg News. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- ^ McLaughlin, Robert (1981). McLaughlin, Robert; Donnelly-Nolan, Julie (eds.). Tectonic Setting of Pre-Tertiary Rocks and Its Relation to Geothermal Resources in the Geysers-Clear Lake Area, in Research in the Geysers-Clear Lake Geothermal Area, Northern California, USGS Professional Paper 1141. Washington: US Government Printing Office. pp. 9–11.
External links
- Jeremy Shere (November 26, 2013). Renewable: The World-Changing Power of Alternative Energy. St. Martin's Press. pp. 151–. ISBN 978-1-250-03822-7.
- "EGS: Interactive, Real-Time Map of Earthquakes at The Geysers". Induced Seismicity. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
- A Geysers Album: History of The Geysers Geothermal field (Report). California Department of Conservation. Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources. 1992.
- U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1996. pp. 3–.