New study sees geothermal in California could be up to 7200 MW in 2050

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California (source: flickr/ jeffgunn, creative commons)

Francisco Rojas 31 Jul 2014

A recent publication by Rob Jordan from Stanford University, the role of renewable energy in California for the near future takes a leading role and helps by providing a better, cleaner vision helping regulate energy prices. Within this landscape, geothermal also plays a fundamental role and in order to supply the energy needs of California 2050, a varied mix of solar, wind and tidal would be needed and an expected 72 geothermal powerplants with an output of 100 MW each.

Looking into the future also suggests that renewables will be absolutely necessary and will gain a more predominant role for this particular state.”Currently, most of California’s energy comes from oil, natural gas, nuclear power and small amounts of coal. Under the plan that Jacobson and his fellow researchers advance, 55.5 percent of the state’s energy for all purposes would come from solar, 35 percent from wind and the remainder from a combination of hydroelectric, geothermal, tidal and wave energy. All vehicles would run on battery-electric power and/or hydrogen fuel cells. Electricity-powered air- and ground-source heat pumps, geothermal heat, heat exchangers and backup electric resistance heaters would replace natural gas and oil for home heating and air-conditioning.” said study co-author Mark Delucchi of the University of California, Davis.

To read the full article, please follow the link below:

Source: Stanford University Website