Worldwide Power Density Review

Abstract

We estimated the power density of 53 high-temperature (more than 200°C) geothermal fields above 15 MWnet with more than 10 years of production history. The mean power density of the population is 16.2 MW/km2, the median is 12.0 MW/km2 and the standard deviation is 9.9 MW/km2. Additionally, power density was plotted vs average reservoir temperature and several trends were identified. Most of the fields fall on a line with a slope of ~2 MW/km2 per 10°C. Fields not on this trend are generally very high-temperature fields (more than 270°C) that form two very different groups. The first group are typically fields in extensional environments and have high power densities (more than 20 MW/km2). The second group are generally fields in compressional environments and have lower power densities.