Neo-Geothermal

A geothermal power plant produces geothermal energy. The word "geothermal" is actually a combination of two Greek words - geo and therme with geo meaning earth and therme meaning heat. Geothermal energy is produces by the steam and hot water coming from the core of the earth. The best thing about all geothermal power plants is that they don't pollute the environment as much other more traditional energy sources, like burning fuel for example. The purpose of this article is to explain how geothermal energy power plants work.

Here is the basic principle of operation of a geothermal power plant. People have geothermal water from the earliest times as they used to cook using the hot water that flowed from the earth's surface. The Romans were actually using to treat eye and skin diseases, while the Pompeii were using to heat buildings. Native Americans were also using geothermal energy for cooking and medicine. In present days, geothermal power plants are taking it to the next step and use geothermal energy to generate electricity. The first geothermal power plant went into operation at The Geysers in 1921. It produced 250KW of electricity.

Geothermal power plants use heat, steam, or hot water from geothermal reservoirs as they provide the force that spins the turbine generators to produce electricity. There has got to be an external force that has to make the turbine generators spin and that's exactly the purpsoe of hot water in this case, or heat, or steam. Geothermal energy is a renewable type of energy because once the geothermal water is used, it's returned down by re-injection that puts it well into the reservoir to be reheated, to maintain pressure, and to sustain the reservoir.

There are three types of geothermal power plants. These power plants are differentiated depending on the temperatures and pressures of a reservoir, so here is the list:

-Dry steam reservoir - the largest Dry steam reservoir type of geothermal power plant is The Geysers (http://www.geysers.com/). It's in the Mayacamas Mountains, located 72 miles north of San Francisco, where naturally occurring steam field reservoirs below the earth's surface are being harnessed by Calpine to make clean, green, renewable energy for homes and businesses across Northern California. The Geysers, comprising 30 square miles along the Sonoma and Lake County border, is the largest complex of geothermal power plants in the world.

-hot water reservoir - geothermal reservoir that produces mostly hot water. The power plant that utilizes it is called a "flash" power plant.

-reservoir with temperatures between 250 and 360 degrees F - Such a reservoir doesn't have water hot enough to flash enough steam, but a binary power plant can still use it to produce electricity.

Pictures of geothermal power plants can be easily found on the Internet using the Image feature of the Google search engine.