I wanted to attend a seminar by Professional Engineers Ontario about Eavor, but was unable to attend. From their website and presentation materials, it sounds interesting.
It's geothermal power generation for areas without volcanic activity, like the Canadian Shield geologic formation.
Basically, a closed-loop system using deep hard rock to boil a proprietary working fluid (I suspect ammonia), using a turbine to create electricity. The innovation is that the boiling point of the working fluid is well below the ambient heat of the rock. When electric demand is low, the deep rock around the pipe warms up, allowing you to have higher surge capacity.
This would mesh well with the varying output of solar and wind. The cost is around $0.30 per kWh, so far more expensive than current renewable prices, but the ability to absorb demand might be an alternative to batteries.
Although if I ran a utility, I'd still like the scalability and quick installation of battery packs. Especially as battery prices are dropping so fast.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2021-09-06 05:25 pm (UTC)It's geothermal power generation for areas without volcanic activity, like the Canadian Shield geologic formation.
https://www.eavor.com/
Basically, a closed-loop system using deep hard rock to boil a proprietary working fluid (I suspect ammonia), using a turbine to create electricity. The innovation is that the boiling point of the working fluid is well below the ambient heat of the rock.
When electric demand is low, the deep rock around the pipe warms up, allowing you to have higher surge capacity.
This would mesh well with the varying output of solar and wind. The cost is around $0.30 per kWh, so far more expensive than current renewable prices, but the ability to absorb demand might be an alternative to batteries.
Although if I ran a utility, I'd still like the scalability and quick installation of battery packs. Especially as battery prices are dropping so fast.