ElectraTherm, Inc., a manufacturer of systems that convert waste heat into electricity, announced that its equipment will be tested for a geothermal application.
Bay City, Texas-based Gulf Coast Green Energy will employ ElectraTherm’s Green Machines to make power from heat captured in geothermal brine, a common byproduct of drilling for oil.
The project will be funded by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, a nonprofit headquartered at Sugar Land, Texas.
ElectraTherm said Green Machines can convert low temperature (200 degree F) geothermal heat into electricity for onsite consumption, or to sell power to the grid.
The ElectraTherm Green Machine also can produce power from an array of heat sources including industrial waste heat, stationary engines, biomass, and solar thermal installations. Recently interest in geothermal applications has taken center stage, the company said.
Bill Olson, ElectraTherm Sr. VP of Business Development, said, "Given the modularity and scalability of ElectraTherm’s technology, the company plans to introduce geothermal systems from the current 50 kW size up to 500 kW. ElectraTherm’s smaller units can economically address smaller geothermal resources–including the tens of thousands of oil and gas wells in the U.S. and Canada alone. ElectraTherm’s larger units can be installed in parallel to rapidly construct multi-megawatt plants for larger geothermal resources."
According to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an investment of $800 million to $1 billion in geothermal developmentcould produce more than 100 gigawatts of electricity by 2050, equaling the combined output of all 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S.
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