manuscript title:Geothermal Power – Paying for your energy supply up front – An overview of geothermal project development considerations

摘要

Geothermal Power – Paying for your energy supply up front – An overview of geothermal project development considerations In these days of uncertain fossil fuel prices, geoth geothermal power presents an unusual ermal opportunity for a developer in that the large majority of their fuel costs for the life of the project can be lockedproject lockedin before producing any electricity. This allows geothermal power to be in supplied with low price volatility volatility, an important consideration in an electricity portfolio. , Understanding the risks in geothermal development can deliver long term certainty and improved bankability. With access to good geothermal expertise and a willingness to accept a certain level of risk in the early stages of field delineation (when costs are relatively low), a developer can progress quickly to the point where they can proceed with steamfield and power plant development. This paper identifies the major factors affecting the developm development of geothermal electricity and ent how variability in these factors affects the costs. These factors include development timeline, resource enthalpy, drilling success, production and injection well capacities, steamfield and power plant development costs, greenfield or brownfield status. A distinction is made between energy supply costs and energy conversion costs. A comparison with the cost of electricity produced from fossil fuels is made and demonstrates that geothermal power is a strongly competitive opt option, especially in these days of volatile (and high) fossil fuel prices. Ion, Reflecting current concerns over climate change, the impact of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Carbon Emission Reduction credits (CERs) is also addressed and it is shown that CERs h have the potential to significantly improve the economics of geothermal ave power.