Power plants produce geothermal energy by utilizing geothermal dry steam or geothermal hot water accessed by digging wells. Dry steam or hot water is brought to the surface through pipes and processed into electricity in the power plant.
There are three different ways that power plants process geothermal energy. The three different methods are dry steam, flash steam and binary-cycle. All three methods use steam to power a turbine which drives a generator that produces electricity.
- • Dry steam geothermal power plants use steam that is brought from below the earth's surface through pipes, directly to the power plant's turbines.
- • Flash steam geothermal power plants use hot water that is brought from below the earth's surface. The hot water is sprayed into a tank and creates steam.
- • Binary-cycle geothermal plants use moderate temperature water from a geothermal source and combine it with another chemical to create steam. The steam powers the turbine that drives the generator to create electricity.
Geothermal energy has other uses besides the production of electricity in power plants.
- Geothermal sources of hot water can be used to heat buildings. Hot water is pumped through pipes located in the building walls to heat the building.
- Geothermal hot water can also be used as a household hot water source.
- Geothermal hot water does not need to be heated and is therefore a clean and cheap source of hot water.
