Mining volcanoes for power
Last year, work began on a new plan to extract heat from the hot rocks that lie under and around volcanoes. By injecting water into cracks in the ground, researchers hope that they may be able to create steam to power subterranean electricity turbines.
Two companies, AltaRock Energy and Davenport Newberry, were granted permission to test this procedure in the land around the Newberry Volcano in Oregon, in a process that critics argue is not dissimilar to the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing.
Over the past 12 months hydraulic fracturing or fracking has been the subject of protests around the world, but in fact it has been around since the 1960s. The CEO of AltaRock, Susan Petty, said in a company blog post that "creating multiple reservoirs from a single injection multiplies the amount of energy that can be extracted from each production well," and will "extend the life of the well and increase the energy recovery from each well, significantly improving the economics of enhanced geothermal system power generation."
But fracking is known to potentially generate earthquakes, and -- as noted by Wired magazine -- practicing a similar technique beneath a volcano that the U.S. Geological Survey says "is certain to erupt again" seems an odd choice.
Whether the technique can yield significant energy return, and be conducted safely is still a matter of debate as heated as the Newberry volcano itself.
Source: CNN, Internet
