Raser Technologies' First Geothermal Plant -- Ribbon Cutting

Raser Technologies, a publicly traded company based in Provo, Utah, has developed a new method of harnessing lower-heat geothermal resources, inexpensively and rapidly. The ribbon-cutting on Nov. 6, 2008 celebrated the first plant they have completed, with eight other plants in various phases of construction.

Raser has contracted with United Technologies Corporation (UTC), which has been in the industrial air conditioning business for decades. With just a slight modification of UTC's air conditioning unit, essentially running it in reverse, rather than using electricity to produce cool air, Raser applies the earth's heat to generate electricity.

Hot water from deep underground reservoirs is pumped up through a well and ran through a heat exchanger, which contains a proprietary fluid that boils at much lower temperature than water does. That turns a turbine, which runs a generator to produce electricity. The cooled water is then pumped back underground, completing a closed loop. The vaporized heat exchanger fluid is cooled back down in the large cooling towers that can be seen in the background, behind the modules. Above-ground water is used in those evaporative cooling towers to assist in cooling the fluid.

Each PureCycle module by UTC produces 280 kilowatts continuously, with virtually no fluctuation, all day and all night, year after year. Like a nuclear power plant, this approach can provide base load electricity for the grid, except with no emissions; no pollution.

This 11 Megawatt net output power plant was built in just six months, from groundbreaking to the ribbon cutting ceremony on Nov. 6, 2008 -- an unheard of speed in the geothermal industry that usually would expect take five to seven years to produce a plant with this output. These innovations by Raser will allow for unleashing vast geothermal resources, competitively; potentially providing up to one third of all electrical needs in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, via a clean, renewable energy source.

See our story about the ribbon-cutting at: http://pesn.com/2008/11/07/9501499_Raser_ribbon-cutting_new_geothermal_era/

See our feature page at: http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Raser_Technologies_-_Geothermal_and_Wa...

The company's website is: http://www.rasertech.com/geothermal_projects.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• geothermal
• Raser
• Brent M. Cook
• Orrin Hatch
• Gary Herbert
• Utah
• PureCycle
• Sterling Allan
• free energy

[h2opower]

I see this as a step in the right direction, but what are they charging people to get the electricity. The cost should be far lower than any gas or coal burning plants, what are they charging consumer?

[PESNetwork]

Raser is able to charge a competative rate for the electricity generated 24/7/365.

[llib245]

only 3300 views in a year, people have their priorities all screwed up. It should also work with biomass as a heat source.

[boxa888]

whats interesting is any person on the planet could make one of these with a deep well!! if i had to money i would do it!!

[boxa888]

guys nikola tesla was the first human to make the geothermal powerplant look it up, he even talks about lower vapor gasses to get more power from the heat! poor tesla you were truely rapped by the evil of history!!!

[tsport100]

Binary geothermal plants have been around since the mid 70s...

Amazing that it's taken 30 years to gain some interest again.

[h2opower]

You should ask them to undercut the oil and coal burning plants so both of them go under. What they are doing is a great thing and I suport their efferts all the way. By the way I solved Stanley Meyer water for fuel technology, so it's only a matter of time before we all break the chains of energy enslavement.

[keithmobile73]

sounds like what tesla was working on or talking about in his article "increasing human energy"