Presenter: Hannah Greenberg
Mentor: Peg Boulay, Environmental Science
Poster: 26
Major: Environmental Science
The Iceland Deep Drilling Project (IDDP) intends to harness geothermal power in a way that power companies hope will increase the efficiency of geothermal energy generation. The goal of the project is to drill deep for supercritical fluids with a high energy yield potential. Conventional geothermal wells are drilled to an average depth of 2 km and produce fluids up to 275 °C. The IDDP plans to drill 3.5-5 km deep for supercritical fluids at 450-600 °C. Geothermal energy is a renewable resource but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is sustainable: geothermal plants can affect the environment in different ways and it is important to study the potential impacts of this new approach. This study aims to compare conventional geothermal with deep drill wells in order to determine if it is a responsible advancement for the future in Iceland and around the world. After conducting this study, it has been determined that the potential benefits of the IDDP are worth investing in. Deep drill wells have the potential to produce more energy than a conventional geothermal well; meaning less land would be disrupted per unit of energy produced by a geothermal well. Further development of deep drilling for supercritical fluids is a step in the right direction for decreasing the impact and increasing the economic viability of geothermal energy.