Economic and Technical Case for Commercial Exploitation of EGS Systems

Abstract

The development of Engineered Geothermal Systems has taken over 30 years to evolve from a basic concept to a technically feasible energy source based on modelling, experimentation and observations. Once EGS became technically feasible, further research was dictated more by economic factors than by the need for technical breakthroughs. It is sometimes forgotten that the economic factors became the driver for further research. In other words, economic parameters dictated the technical goals that had to be met to make EGS commercially viable. It has been noted recently that the economic modelling done for raising capital in the market, in most cases, does not address the engineering parameters needed to make it economically viable. The assumption is often made that the technical breakthroughs needed to bring the cost down will happen without allowance for making research investment. Additionally the key issue is the net power generation (including management and maintenance) and not the gross power generation or worse still, the total thermal output, which is generally quoted in economic evaluations.

Some of the engineering parameters to be addressed for economic evaluation are: