Study the Present Scenario of Geothermal Power Generation in the World

Abstract

This thesis is about the present status of geothermal energy in the world. An overall discussion on geothermal energy includes in this thesis. Geothermal energy is part of renewable energy. This geothermal energy is captured into the earth as converted heat energy. It is very cheap, reliable, available over time, and cleanest energy but has some limitations due to the energy extraction requires a high investment, a large land area, insufficient equipment, and insufficient technological progress. The system of producing electricity by the geothermal process, methods using for this energy, geothermal heat pump, geothermal wells are discussed in this paper. This thesis discusses the different methods of geothermal energy. Where three methods like dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle are found. Among them, dry steam is the oldest design of geothermal energy and the binary cycle is the newest and advanced design of geothermal energy. The system of producing electricity by geothermal energy first needs to have clear knowledge on Geo heating process which means Ground Source Heat Pumps (GHP) and other one is geothermal wells. This thesis has analyzed and discussed the whole process of geothermal heat pumps and geothermal wells. It also discussed the geothermal potentiality in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has the possibility to produce energy from geothermal resources, with temperatures ranging from 110 to 153°C from 304 kilometers below the surface, the regional geothermal gradient ranges from 19.8 to 29.5°C/km in the southeast, and 20.8 to 48.7°C/km in the north-west. The key sources of geothermal energy are the Rangpur Saddle (700m depth contour), Madhupur Clay (20 m) Single, Kuchma and Bogra (60-125 km), and Thakurgaon warm water area. A private company plans to build Bangladesh's first geothermal power plant, with a capacity of 200MW. The plant will be built at Salandar village in Thakurgaon impoverished northern district. A possible cost calculation for a 200 MW geothermal power plant in Thakurgaon is mentioned in this thesis.