Geothermal energy from ‘magma’ eyed
Calif meets goal
LONDON, April 12, (Agencies): Scientists will study the possibility of producing geothermal energy from magma for the first time, in a $100 million project in Iceland, which if successful could produce up to 10 times more energy than from a conventional well.
The project is being coordinated by Iceland’s Geothermal Research Group (GEORG) and the British Geological Survey, with the participation of 38 institutes and companies from 11 countries including the United States, Canada and Russia.
Producing geothermal energy from magma would enable Iceland to export more energy and could also revive a plan to build a power cable from Iceland to Britain to provide power to British homes, in what would be the world’s longest power interconnector.
Iceland, a volcanic island that produces all its electricity from geothermal energy and hydropower, agreed with Britain last year to study building the 1,000km long IceLink cable, which could power 1.6 million British homes.
Those plans were delayed due to Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and concern in Iceland that exports would increase power prices at home and reduce the island’s attractiveness to energy-intensive industries such as data centres.
Britain’s National Grid would continue to look into the Icelandic interconnector link, a spokeswoman said. The magma project, called Krafla Magma Testbed, will involve drilling a hole 2.1 kms deep directly into a magma chamber below the Krafla volcano in northern Iceland.
The first phase of the project is planned to start by 2020 and will cost $30 million, the British Geological Survey said in a statement on Friday about the study, which also aims to explore the mechanism of eruptions to protect communities from volcanic disasters. It said it was confident of securing the financing as a number of countries and companies had expressed interest in contributing, but did not give details.
“A magma geothermal well can produce 5 to 10 times more energy compared to a conventional well,” said Sigordur Markusson, a project manager for Icelandic utility Landsvirkjun, which will develop the site.
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SAN FRANCISCO: California met its goal to produce about half the state’s electricity from renewable sources for three hours on March 11, a new estimate from the US government shows.
The US Department of Energy’s statistics division used data from the California Independent System Operator, which manages the electricity grid across 80 percent of California and part of Nevada, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The record was set when almost 40 percent of the electricity flowing across the grid came from largescale solar power plants.
Factor in electricity produced by area homes and businesses, and solar met about half the overall electricity demand in the middle of the day.
Although the surge in renewable power is a key part of California’s fight against climate change, it creates its own set of problems. California produces so much solar power on bright summer days that some is shunted off the grid, in a process known as curtailment.
“We’re seeing the potential for more curtailment this summer,” Independent System Operator spokesman Steven Greenlee said. “The thing is, we’re seeing this happen sooner than our initial analysis suggested.”
California aims to have 50 percent of all electricity come from renewable sources by 2030.