US Politicians Pin Green Hope for a Geothermal Energy Breakthrough – Is It Thriving With That?
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Geothermal energy is in most places an expensive dead end. But like the masked villain in a low-budget thriller, it won’t be in its grave, it keeps coming back to the political agenda.
The renewable energy that Democrats hope will explode
Climate advocates and lawmakers believe the $320 billion in tax incentives promoting renewables like geothermal will remain largely unchanged.
January 17, 2022 07:00 AM EST
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Supporters of Congress included geothermal energy in a bipartisan infrastructure package passed last fall that earmarked $84 million for demonstration projects. And advocates say hundreds of billions of dollars in tax incentives and research funding in the Rebuild action better could help propel it to mainstream.
“If our focus is on creating good-paying jobs, growing the economy and tackling the climate crisis, then this is a perfect example of why we need to this tax credit for geothermal, a boon to clean energy. it, but nationally,” said Senator Catherine Cortez Masto told POLITICO.
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“We support geothermal energy as one of the good alternatives when it comes to completing a green or renewable portfolio,” said LaMalfa. “To be contained in an invoice like this that looks destroyed is too bad. I’d rather see it in a separate bill, in a separate energy bill, that would be more positive than one of these massive scale that is having huge problems for the Senate side.”
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According to the Energy Information Administration, the initial cost of a geothermal energy field and power plant is about $2,500 per kilowatt, which is much more expensive than solar and wind, which has benefited from supportive federal and state policies and financial incentives that have reduced production costs. average cost for onshore wind Generators are $1,391 per kilowatt, while solar averages at $1,796 per kilowatt.
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“If geothermal becomes affordable, there is huge potential for it to be used,” said Daniel Shawhan, a member of Resources for the Future, a nonprofit group that conducts clean energy research. used to produce electricity. “It can actually provide a large portion of the world’s energy. And in particular, it may be the missing piece in [and] achieve inexpensively [a] He added.
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The strongest argument for greater adoption of geothermal systems is that power plants can produce energy around the clock because the heat in the earth’s core is available 24/7, unlike wind and solar. God.
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Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/17/democrats-biden-clean-energy-527175
The attraction is obvious – a renewable form of energy that generates 24×7 without the need for a large reservoir. There are even geothermal sites where conditions are ideal, with heat sources close to the surface for easy access, low water-soluble mineral content to prevent cracks between the rocks. , ideal for the physicochemical properties of the rock. But efforts to expand the range of suitable geothermal energy sources outside of this small set of ideal niches have so far encountered insurmountable problems.
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