Geothermal sources have great potential for providing electric and thermal energy to the northern and remote regions of Russia, says Sergey Elistratov, Professor of the Department of Thermal Power Plants at Novosibirsk State Technical University, Doctor of Technical Sciences.
Recently, there has been a surge of interest in geothermal energy as one of the most promising areas in the field of renewable energy sources. It is based on the use of heat, which is located in the bowels of the Earth. In addition, this heat can be extracted almost everywhere, in any corner of the planet.
"Interest in renewable energy has grown in recent years."Interest in renewable energy has grown in recent years. Fuel is becoming expensive, and there are difficulties with its delivery to remote settlements. One of the A taske regions is to replace imported fuels with local energy resources. Geothermal heat can become an affordable energy resource. Geothermal power plants are currently operating in Russia: three in Kamchatka and one is being built on the Kuril Islands—all these are regions with high volcanic activity. There are other territories in our country that have high potential for the development of geothermal energy, such as the Far East, the North Caucasus, and Siberia. Different territories have their own conditions for obtaining geothermal energy. In areas of volcanic activity, these are mainly steam hydrotherms, and in most Russian territories it is just hot water," said Sergey Elistratov.
According to him, a significant advantage of the geothermal resource is that there are large reserves of heat in the bowels of the earth in the form of hot water or a mixture of steam and water, which means that it is an almost inexhaustible source of energy. In addition, it is an environmentally friendly energy: when it is generated, harmful substances are not released into the atmosphere, as when burning fuel, and the environment is not damaged. Geothermal energy is available 24/7, regardless of external factors (natural, climatic conditions, time of day), it allows you to solve the problem of providing electricity to any territory — you can build geothermal power plants in remote settlements, in hard-to-reach areas and do without expensive energy supplies.
"In addition, there is also such a thing as heterothermal energy — anywhere on the planet you drill a well and reach not to the water, but to the horizon where you have a high temperature in solid rocks. And then you just put water in there, and after collecting heat at great depth, it comes up either in the form of hot water or in the form of steam under pressure, which ensures the operation of the turbines and the generation of electricity. That is, you can get heat from the bowels of the earth virtually anywhere on the planet. If we bring the technology for generating geothermal energy to an economically acceptable level, humanity will be provided with electric and thermal energy for many years to come," said Sergey Elistratov.
Within the framework of the joint activities of Vitus Bering Kamchatka State University and NSTU-NETI, it is planned to create a network training program on geothermal energy, and university students and teachers will visit geothermal power plants in Kamchatka.
Read the interview with Sergey Elistratov on the website.