What new opportunities and risks come with harnessing geothermal energy?
What new opportunities and risks come with harnessing geothermal energy?
Learn about the opportunities and risks of drilling for geothermal energy in Iceland.
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Transcript
NARRATOR: It’s freezing cold on a drilling rig. The workers use a propane torch to beat back the frost. Deep below the frozen ground of Iceland could lie the key to the energy of the future. Geologist Ásgrímur Gudmundsson supervises this extreme drilling operation. The men here are making their way down through five kilometers of the earth. It's a risky undertaking in the volcanic active region of Krafla, but the prize is beyond measure.
Deep water, hotter than hot, around 500 celcius - it's said to be under enormous pressure and house unimaginable amounts of energy. It most likely exists as a highly corrosive fluid that dissolves everything it comes into contact with. But nobody really knows for sure, because no one has ever managed to get this fiery hot water up to the Earth’s surface. The conditions on Iceland are particularly favorable for this daring mission. The island lies directly above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The North American and Eurasian plates are drifting apart. Between them, the Earth’s red-hot interior presses upwards, close to the surface, offering both risk and opportunity.
The researchers anticipate the fluid to be at a depth of five kilometers. Supercritical is the name it's been given, with a temperature upwards of 370 celcius and a pressure of 221 bar it's neither gaseous nor liquid. The researchers believe that this substance could deliver 10 times more energy than conventional geothermal sources. Below the Earth's crust things are boiling and simmering. One of the numerous volcanoes nearby could erupt at any time. Icelanders have learned to live with this risk, and to make use of the subterranean heat. Iceland supplies more than half of its energy needs with geothermal energy. This heat comes from the Earth's interior, and there's more of it than the Icelanders need.
The tension is rising at the bore site. Drilling has stopped. Overnight the men have retrieved every singe bore-rod from the depths and dismantled them. Now the borehole is being stabilized with tubes. This presents another problem. Can the tube withstand the highly corrosive fluid?
ÁSGRÍMUR GUDMUNDSSON: “What we are, a little bit, worrying about that is the chemistry, that they may be connected to this supercritical fluid. We don't know what kind of gases we may expect and we don't know about other things either. We've traveled to the moon but we've never got five kilometers down."
NARRATOR: Supercritical fluid probably acts as a strong solvent. Gudmundsson assumes that it contains salts and minerals, and the fear is that they might be caustic and corrode the pipes. Or the released substance could block up the borehole – a dangerous situation that could cause an explosion. The energy hidden deep in the earth is demonstrated here with a conventional borehole. It has just been opened and the enormous pressure blasts the stored heat upwards from a depth of two and a half kilometers. This is the most energy-rich borehole on the island – at least for now. Many problems have yet to be solved before the supercritical fluid can actually be tapped deep inside the earth. Taming subterranean forces to make use of their energy does not come without hazard.
October 2004, near Bremen, Germany - an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 occurs. Torsten Dahm from the University of Hamburg is concerned. The tremor is uncharacteristically severe for the area, so he wants to have a closer look. For this he needs precise measurements. The measuring instrument that can clarify things is positioned at a depth of 500 meters, far away from any disruptive influences. It's one of some 15,000 such devices around the world that measure even the smallest of vibrations. An engineer ensures that the seismometer is precisely calibrated. It has to stand absolutely upright or the measurements could supply false results.
TORSTEN DAHM: "These instruments are extremely sensitive. They can register down to the nanometer range. If you imagine that the smallest virus is just 20 nanometers, then you can get a picture of how extremely small the Earth's vibrations are that we can register here."
NARRATOR: The data is sufficient to precisely determine the coordinates and strength of the quake. Its depth value is delivered by another source. Seismic waves run through the Earth's core and arrive at the other side. This is why an echo of the earthquake was also registered in America. This measurement from the other side of the world makes it possible to calculate the depth and the cause of the quake.
DAHM: "Our seismological investigations demonstrate clearly that, according to our data, the earthquake took place at a depth of between five and seven kilometers and that it is possibly related to gas extraction from neighboring gas fields."
NARRATOR: An earthquake caused by gas extraction? The boreholes near Bremen are five kilometers deep. This brings the natural gas up through the borehole. Extracting the gas from the porous sediment changes the sediment's stability. The weight of the layers of rock lying on top compress it like a sponge. This can alter the pressure underground and cause the Earth to shake. Below the ground there are enormous sources of energy. Their utilization poses new options for us, but not without risk.
Deep water, hotter than hot, around 500 celcius - it's said to be under enormous pressure and house unimaginable amounts of energy. It most likely exists as a highly corrosive fluid that dissolves everything it comes into contact with. But nobody really knows for sure, because no one has ever managed to get this fiery hot water up to the Earth’s surface. The conditions on Iceland are particularly favorable for this daring mission. The island lies directly above the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The North American and Eurasian plates are drifting apart. Between them, the Earth’s red-hot interior presses upwards, close to the surface, offering both risk and opportunity.
The researchers anticipate the fluid to be at a depth of five kilometers. Supercritical is the name it's been given, with a temperature upwards of 370 celcius and a pressure of 221 bar it's neither gaseous nor liquid. The researchers believe that this substance could deliver 10 times more energy than conventional geothermal sources. Below the Earth's crust things are boiling and simmering. One of the numerous volcanoes nearby could erupt at any time. Icelanders have learned to live with this risk, and to make use of the subterranean heat. Iceland supplies more than half of its energy needs with geothermal energy. This heat comes from the Earth's interior, and there's more of it than the Icelanders need.
The tension is rising at the bore site. Drilling has stopped. Overnight the men have retrieved every singe bore-rod from the depths and dismantled them. Now the borehole is being stabilized with tubes. This presents another problem. Can the tube withstand the highly corrosive fluid?
ÁSGRÍMUR GUDMUNDSSON: “What we are, a little bit, worrying about that is the chemistry, that they may be connected to this supercritical fluid. We don't know what kind of gases we may expect and we don't know about other things either. We've traveled to the moon but we've never got five kilometers down."
NARRATOR: Supercritical fluid probably acts as a strong solvent. Gudmundsson assumes that it contains salts and minerals, and the fear is that they might be caustic and corrode the pipes. Or the released substance could block up the borehole – a dangerous situation that could cause an explosion. The energy hidden deep in the earth is demonstrated here with a conventional borehole. It has just been opened and the enormous pressure blasts the stored heat upwards from a depth of two and a half kilometers. This is the most energy-rich borehole on the island – at least for now. Many problems have yet to be solved before the supercritical fluid can actually be tapped deep inside the earth. Taming subterranean forces to make use of their energy does not come without hazard.
October 2004, near Bremen, Germany - an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 occurs. Torsten Dahm from the University of Hamburg is concerned. The tremor is uncharacteristically severe for the area, so he wants to have a closer look. For this he needs precise measurements. The measuring instrument that can clarify things is positioned at a depth of 500 meters, far away from any disruptive influences. It's one of some 15,000 such devices around the world that measure even the smallest of vibrations. An engineer ensures that the seismometer is precisely calibrated. It has to stand absolutely upright or the measurements could supply false results.
TORSTEN DAHM: "These instruments are extremely sensitive. They can register down to the nanometer range. If you imagine that the smallest virus is just 20 nanometers, then you can get a picture of how extremely small the Earth's vibrations are that we can register here."
NARRATOR: The data is sufficient to precisely determine the coordinates and strength of the quake. Its depth value is delivered by another source. Seismic waves run through the Earth's core and arrive at the other side. This is why an echo of the earthquake was also registered in America. This measurement from the other side of the world makes it possible to calculate the depth and the cause of the quake.
DAHM: "Our seismological investigations demonstrate clearly that, according to our data, the earthquake took place at a depth of between five and seven kilometers and that it is possibly related to gas extraction from neighboring gas fields."
NARRATOR: An earthquake caused by gas extraction? The boreholes near Bremen are five kilometers deep. This brings the natural gas up through the borehole. Extracting the gas from the porous sediment changes the sediment's stability. The weight of the layers of rock lying on top compress it like a sponge. This can alter the pressure underground and cause the Earth to shake. Below the ground there are enormous sources of energy. Their utilization poses new options for us, but not without risk.