Man-made Earthquake

[Jiro]

Swiss Geothermal Project Shut Down Because of Quake Threat

Swiss authorities have shutdown a geothermal project, poised to generate electricity by tapping heat from the earth’s core, after studies determined the project could trigger earthquakes and cause millions of dollars of damages to area properties each year.

The utility-scale geothermal project was being developed by former oil man Markus Häring, reports the New York Times, and is located in the city of Basel, in northern Switzerland. It was actually shutdown in 2006 after it generated earthquakes that did not injure anyone but caused about $9 million in damage to homes and other structures.

This is a blow for backers of utility-scale geothermal power. Geothermal generation is well established, Iceland generates all of its power from it, but most of the output is small and taps into known sources of heat. The notion of drilling directly to the earth’s seething bedrock is cutting edge and unproven technology.

In Northern California Google-backed AltaRock Energy is looking to generate hundred of megawatts of electricity by using a process known as Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) which consists of drilling deep into the earth’s core, fracturing hot rocks and injecting water to produce steam. The steam is then piped to power nearby electricity turbines — see below for a clear visual of how this process works.

It sounds really promising but like Switzerland there have been concerns that drilling so deep down into the earth’s core can cause earthquakes, and last September AltaRock suspended drilling at its test site.

Update | 9:30 AM: On the Swiss project, backers of utility-scale geothermal noted that the study focused narrowly on the Basel project and that it did contained some positive conclusions. The New York Times writes, citing an English translation of the report, that Basel residents would have felt between 14 to 170 earthquakes over the project’s 30-year life span and likely none of these earthquakes would have cause bodily harm.

Geothermal, unlike wind or solar power, is constant and it’s cheap. That means it could act as baseload power, some even argue it could replace coal-fired power plants.

interesting!!

 

[Jiro]

Quake Threat Leads Swiss to Close Geothermal Project

A $60 million project to extract renewable energy from the hot bedrock deep beneath Basel, Switzerland, was shut down permanently on Thursday after a government study determined that earthquakes generated by the project were likely to do millions of dollars in damage each year.

The project, led by Markus O. Häring, a former oilman, was suspended in late 2006 after it generated earthquakes that did no bodily harm but caused about $9 million in mostly minor damage to homes and other structures. Mr. Häring is to go to trial next week on criminal charges stemming from the project. On Thursday, he did not respond to messages asking for comment.

The findings are a serious blow to the hopes of environmentalists, entrepreneurs and investors who believe that advanced geothermal energy could substantially cut the world’s use of emissions-causing fossil fuels. The report comes as the United States Energy Department is preparing its own review of the safety of a closely related project, by a start-up company called AltaRock Energy, in the hills north of San Francisco.

The AltaRock project is the Obama administration’s first major test of advanced geothermal energy. Like the Basel project, AltaRock’s plan is to drill miles underground, fracture hot bedrock and circulate water through it to generate steam. The Energy Department began its review after an article in The New York Times in June raised questions about whether AltaRock had been forthcoming about the earthquakes set off by the fracturing in Basel. The AltaRock project has also been plagued with technical problems.

Scientists said on Thursday that because the Swiss report focused narrowly on the Basel project and also contained positive findings, it would not prove fatal to advanced geothermal energy as a whole.

For example, while the report concluded that residents of Basel would have felt from 14 to 170 earthquakes over the 30-year life of the project, few if any of those earthquakes would be likely to cause bodily harm, according to an English summary of the report provided by Rudolf Braun, the Swiss scientist who led the work.

The report also concluded that the Basel project was very unlikely to activate one of the major faults around Basel and generate a huge quake like the one that devastated the city in 1356. On the other hand, the report also found a 15 percent chance that the project could set off an earthquake that could cause over half a billion dollars in damage. Every year, the project would probably produce some $6 million in damage, the report found.

“As for Basel, it is clear that this project has been buried,” said Nicholas Deichmann of the Swiss Seismological Service.

But Mr. Deichmann said advanced geothermal energy might still work in less populated areas, depending on the precise design and other factors.

The charges Mr. Häring faces in his trial next week translate approximately as “reckless damage of structures,” said Philipp Loser, a reporter at the Basler Zeitung. Mr. Häring is unlikely to face more than a fine if convicted, Mr. Loser said.

 

[sequoias]

California do have a few geothermal power plants as well. There's some geysers and thermal features in Napa Valley basin.

 

[Jiro]

California do have a few geothermal power plants as well. There's some geysers and thermal features in Napa Valley basin.

no no - this is a different type of geothermal technology. In order to have a geothermal energy.... it draws some heat from deep underground like geysers, etc. But.... what do you do if there's no geysers? They drill to hot rock and then inject some water via high-pressure hose to make it steam.

It's a cool new idea but.... too bad it causes some earthquake.

 

[sequoias]

no no - this is a different type of geothermal technology. In order to have a geothermal energy.... it draws some heat from deep underground like geysers, etc. But.... what do you do if there's no geysers? They drill to hot rock and then inject some water via high-pressure hose to make it steam.

It's a cool new idea but.... too bad it causes some earthquake.

I know that....they drill where that area has lot of geothermal activity like I said.

 

[Jiro]

I know that....they drill where that area has lot of geothermal activity like I said.

yes - with current geothermal technology, you need to do it in the area that has geothermal activity. in this case - there's no geothermal activity. that's the whole point of this new geothermal technology. They create artificial geothermal activity. You can do this almost anywhere.

 

[sequoias]

yes - with current geothermal technology, you need to do it in the area that has geothermal activity. in this case - there's no geothermal activity. that's the whole point of this new geothermal technology. They create artificial geothermal activity. You can do this almost anywhere.

Oh, didn't know that. I guess that's the new generation of electricity production in rural area pretty much. Looks like earthquakes is the bad side for production.

 

[netrox]

Did the land have history of earthquakes before the plant? I wonder if it's safe to do it in semistically inactive land?

 

[Jiro]

Did the land have history of earthquakes before the plant? I wonder if it's safe to do it in semistically inactive land?

read those 2 articles again. It has all the answers to your questions.

 

[posts from hell]

I can see some people never took geology classes...

Putting liquids in places it has not been before = earthquakes.

 

[posts from hell]

Reminds me of this:

In 1961, a 12,000-foot well was drilled at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, northeast of Denver, for disposing of waste fluids from Arsenal operations. Injection was commenced March 1962, and an unusual series of earthquakes erupted in the area shortly after.

It was 32 minutes after 4 a.m. on April 24 when the first shock of the Denver series was recorded at the Cecil H. Green Geophysical Observatory at Bergen Park, Colorado. Rated magnitude 1.5, it was not strong enough to be felt by area residents. By the end of December 1962, 190 earthquakes had occurred. Several were felt, but none caused damage until the window breaker that surprised Dupont and Irondale on the night of December 4. The shock shuffled furniture around in homes, and left electrical wall outlets hanging by their wires at Irondale.

Over 1,300 earthquakes were recorded at Bergen Park between January 1963 and August 9, 1967. Three shocks in 1965 -- February 16, September 29, and November 20 -- caused intensity VI damage in Commerce City and environs.

Colorado

 

[Jiro]

I can see some people never took geology classes...

Putting liquids in places it has not been before = earthquakes.

it's the gas expansion, silly. what they're doing is same as throwing a bucket of water to campfire and thar she blows! that's what they wanted to do. the artificial geothermal energy.

 

[netrox]

read those 2 articles again. It has all the answers to your questions.

im lazy to read

 

[Jiro]

im lazy to read

that's why I posted a pix

 

[posts from hell]

it's the gas expansion, silly. what they're doing is same as throwing a bucket of water to campfire and thar she blows! that's what they wanted to do. the artificial geothermal energy.

I see what you mean, but read my article.

Did you say you sucked at geology?

If the water was there in the first place... It would be OK. But water wasn't so introducing water to the ground underneath, and expanding it, expanding other things, rocks, soil, and all that fancy stuff that wasnt expanded... Then duh, you have earthquakes.

But basically, both of us have the same idea...

I was referring to a place that didnt have liquids (mostly water) in place.. The denver article I posted was about nuclear waste and such.

 

[sequoias]

Yup, same idea when the subdivison zone shifts and pulls in ocean water to the super hot magma under an area like Washington state or Oregon....the water BOILS and brings tons of gas which means MAJOR earthquakes. That event is rare, though. Most of the water is underground than you see in the ocean.

 

[kokonut]

I see what you mean, but read my article.

Did you say you sucked at geology?

If the water was there in the first place... It would be OK. But water wasn't so introducing water to the ground underneath, and expanding it, expanding other things, rocks, soil, and all that fancy stuff that wasnt expanded... Then duh, you have earthquakes.

But basically, both of us have the same idea...

I was referring to a place that didnt have liquids (mostly water) in place.. The denver article I posted was about nuclear waste and such.

Not soil, that's at the surface and just below. This is about creating fractures (or additional fractures) deep below (2 to 3 miles deep) into the bedrock where there is a large thermal heat source sufficient enough to quickly turn water into steam that can drive a turbine and create electricity. No matter where you go there is a geothermal gradient downward and the deeper you go, the hotter it gets. The artificial fracturing under huge pressure changes the stress field deep below. This changes the energy potential until something gives releasing kinetic energy (e.g. earthquake). Then you have water acting as a "lubricant" in some places that could cause a fault block to slip some or have a way to release the elastic strain deep down. It doesn't have to be water but any fluids, even toxic waste. Even removing water or oil has caused earthquakes, too.
Kokonut Pundit: Did Oil Drillings Cause an Earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico?

All places deep down have some amount of water or moisture within the rocks whether in the form of large fractures or microfractures. There's a certain depth when water simply cannot be stored at that depth due to high enough temperature.

Anyway, these things are well known since the 1960s regarding the injection of fluids deep down and they have induced earthquakes.

 

[kokonut]

Yup, same idea when the subdivison zone shifts and pulls in ocean water to the super hot magma under an area like Washington state or Oregon....the water BOILS and brings tons of gas which means MAJOR earthquakes. That event is rare, though. Most of the water is underground than you see in the ocean.

No. That is entirely incorrect. It's not the boiling wate and gas but rather the elastic strain taking place. You have two features in the subduction zone where the "rubbing" occurs and then it "snaps" releasing energy outward. The longer the stored energy the bigger the energy it'll release. Think of it as snapping your finger. The harder you press down between the two fingers the greater the "snap" where the slipping finger hits your fleshy part of your palm. Now, I'm not saying water doesn't play a role, it does. It's the bending and flexing, the releasing of energy. Or you could think of it as a twig that you're trying to bend until the elasticity can no longer hold, it snaps (you break it).

Watch the vid.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQES0ALjUoI]YouTube - Elastic Rebound in a Subduction Zone[/ame]

 

[sequoias]

I looked at other video which is clearer. That explains why the islands shifted out of water exposing some coral reefs...like the 2005 quake near Thailand.

 

[kokonut]

I looked at other video which is clearer. That explains why the islands shifted out of water exposing some coral reefs...like the 2005 quake near Thailand.

That wasn't caused by a subduction zone earthquake.