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posted by mrpg on Saturday May 06 2017, @03:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the energy-from-the-inside dept.

It's named after a Nordic god and drills deep into the heart of a volcano: "Thor" is a rig that symbolises Iceland's leading-edge efforts to produce powerful clean energy.

If successful, the experimental project could produce up to 10 times more energy than an existing conventional gas or oil well, by generating electricity from the heat stored inside the earth: in this case, volcanic areas.

Launched in August last year, the drilling was completed on January 25, reaching a record-breaking depth of 4,659 metres (nearly 3 miles).

At this depth, engineers hope to access hot liquids under extreme pressure and at temperatures of 427 degrees C (800 F), creating steam that turns a turbine to generate clean electricity.

Iceland's decision to harness the heat inside the earth in a process known as geothermal energy dates back to the 1970s and the oil crisis.

But the new geothermal well is expected to generate far more energy, as the extreme heat and pressure at that depth makes the water take the form of a "supercritical" fluid, which is neither gas nor liquid.

"We expect to get five to 10 times more power from the well than a conventional well today," said Albert Albertsson, an engineer at the Icelandic energy company HS Orka, involved in the drilling project.


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by deimtee on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:48AM (1 child)

    by deimtee (3272) on Saturday May 06 2017, @05:48AM (#505340) Journal

    Reporter:

    If successful, the experimental project could produce up to 10 times more energy than an existing conventional gas or oil well, by generating electricity from the heat stored inside the earth: in this case, volcanic areas.

    From further down in TFA, Engineer :

    "We expect to get five to 10 times more power from the well than a conventional well today," said Albert Albertsson, an engineer at the Icelandic energy company HS Orka, involved in the drilling project.

    I'm sure the engineer was talking about thermal wells that Iceland already uses extensively, and the reporter messed it up.

    --
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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:40AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday May 06 2017, @07:40AM (#505356) Journal

    That pesky thing called entropy. Electrical energy is hard and thermal energy will loose a lot of energy to make electricity. So they should be specified separately.