State of Geothermal Energy

quietus writes:

"Remind me that the most fertile lands were built by the fires of volcanoes." -- Andrea Gibson, The Madness Vase.

Ninety-two (92) percent of Kenya's electricity comes from renewable resources. About 50 percent of all that is covered by the 5 geothermal power stations at Olkaria, near Hell's Gate National Park.That park is just a tiny part of the thousands of miles long East African Rift System, where the Indian, Arabian and African continental plates meet.

The big advantage of geothermal power is that it produces a steady base load of electricity -- currently 5GW at Olkaria, with an estimated total 10GW potential.

That has aroused the interest of the German government, co-investors and providers of technical expertise for the project. The potential for geothermal power in Germany, through deep (miles deep) drilling is estimated at a quarter of the country's heating needs: before 2030, at least 100 geothermal power projects should be in place.

Geothermal energy projects, however, are capital intensive -- the Olkaria project actually started getting steam in the 90s, mainly supported by the Japanese government and the United Nations Development Programme; Germany has been coinvesting for the last 20 years, alongside with the European Investment Bank. Besides, utility-scale solar and onshore wind is hovering at around $35 per MWh, while geothermal currently is slotted around $70 per MWh.

However, solar and wind are intermittent sources of energy: if you want to buy reliability, nuclear or coal- and gas-fired plants are your comparison. In an April 2023 comparison, investment bank Lazard comes to an estimated cost, unsubsidized, between $68 and $166 per MWh for coal, $141 and $221 for nuclear, and $61 to $102 per MWh for geothermal energy. Only gas-combined-cycle power generation could potentially be cheaper ($39 to $101 per MWh), for providing base load (see page 2 in the pdf).

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