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Geochemical study confirms potential for Akutan Island, Alaska

Geochemical study confirms potential for Akutan Island, Alaska Akutan Harbor, Aleutians, Alaska (source: flickr/ PoweredbyLycoming, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 10 Jan 2014

A new geochemical study on Akutan Island in Alaska, U.S., has now been released by the U.S. Geological Survey indicating a good potential for geothermal power development on the island.

The Island of Akutan in Alaska, part of the east-central Aleutian Islands, has been covered here on ThinkGeoEnergy in the past. The island has seen a number of studies since the 1980s and we reported on it in 2009 and 2010.

Now the U.S. Geological Survey publishes results of a Geochemical Study conducted in 2012 that highlights the potential for geothermal power development on the Island.

Akutan Island hosts the largest seafood production facility in North America, which though operates only seasonal. This makes the economics of any power development a bit tricky. But geothermal is seen as a great opportunity to green this operation, which currently derives its power from diesel power generation.

The USGS now reports that “the results from this study document higher concentrations of hydrothermal components in the hot spring waters and an increase in water discharge from the hot spring system. The current heat output of the hot spring system is estimated at 29 megawatts – nearly ten times higher than measured in the early 1980s. This large increase may reflect the volcanic and seismic events of the 1990s, and if so, it cannot be considered a short-term anomaly. Modern geothermal plants could use this heat to generate several MW of electricity. One MW of electric power would supply the needs of about 750 homes.”

Temperatures are 200-240 degrees Celsius. Depending on investment and development, options are there for “high-temperature, deeper resource development or a moderate-temperature resource at relatively shallow depth.”, so Deborah Bergfeld, USGS geochemist and lead author of the report.

The full report, “Geochemical investigation of the hydrothermal system on Akutan Island, Alaska, July 2012,” USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2013–5231, is available online. Additional funding for this research was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office.

Source: USGS