Saturday, December 12, 2009

Quake Threat Leads Swiss to Close Geothermal Project

The AltaRock project, the first major test of advanced geothermal energy by the Obama Administration, will begin drilling miles underground by fracturing hot bedrock in order to extract heat and steam, as an alternative energy source. The AltaRock project will use the same method as Mr. Häring’s mission, the Basel project, by drilling deep into fault lines along the California coast, nearly two hours north of San Francisco in the Anderson Springs. In support of renewable energy, The California project is the first of few projects that could potentially be operating within the next few years and is driven by a push to reduce emissions of heat trapping gases. The potential of geothermal energy has raised huge hopes for advocates of cutting gas emissions because it could retract from America’s dependence on fossil fuels. According to an estimate on Google, the AltaRock project could potentially supply about 15 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2030. Geothermal advocates believe that the method used in the Basel project could be the breakthrough for finding ways to draw up heat at deeper levels by drilling to the earth’s core. “According to a 2007 geothermal report financed by the Energy Department, advanced geothermal power could in theory produce as much as 60,000 times the nation’s annual energy use.” But there is one problem.

On December 8, 2006, Mr. Häring’s drilled a hole three miles deep near the corner of Neuhaus Street and Shafer Lane, when the project later set off a damaging earthquake that caused nearly $9 million in destruction to homes and other local structures. Although the project caused no bodily harm, it was suspended in late 2006 and permanently shut down as of Thursday, December 10, 2009. After a government study was organized, it was determined that the generated earthquakes of the Basel project would produce an estimated 6 million dollars in damage each year. The report also found that the residents of Basel would have experienced 14 to 170 earthquakes over the next 30 years. Similarly, seismologists of the California coast say that large earthquakes tend to originate at great depth and that breaking rock that far down carries a much more serious risk. On the other hand, “Mr. Turner said that AltaRock, which will drill on federal land leased by the Northern California Power Agency, had calculated that the number of earthquakes felt by residents in Anderson Springs and local communities would not noticeably increase.” But still, some residents are skeptical, “It’s terrifying,” said Susan Bartlett, who works as a new patient coordinator at the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco. “What’s happening to all these rocks that they’re busting into a million pieces?” Thus far the company has received its permit to begin drilling its first hole, but awaits a second permit to fracture the rock.

Sources: New York Times

Author: James Glanz

"Quake Threat Leads Swiss to Close Geothermal Project"
"Deep in Bedrock, Clean Energy and Quake Fears"

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