THE END OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN HAWAII?

Yesterday, it was reported that lava entered the Puna Geothermal Venture facility site.  I have not seen any actual report of the power plant being covered, but it is all but inevitable, anyway.  Day 25 of the latest Kilauea Volcano eruption could well be remembered as the day geothermal energy died in Hawaii.

On 7May18 my posting was entitled:

     THE ERUPTION AND FUTURE OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN HAWAII

As one of the team from the University of Hawaii which discovered, drilled and produced Hawaii Geothermal Well-A in 1976--42 years ago--it is indeed a sad day for me to suggest that a particularly promising indigenous source of energy has come to an end in this state.

We selected this particular site because it was the most probable location and our 3MW power generation system was supposed to be experimental.  The longevity of this plant was to be short.  We only wanted to prove that Hawaii had any potential for this geo-option.

Why would a company, then, build their power plant next to ours, on the East Rift Zone, which had in 1960 and 1955 experienced tragic episodes, destroying the town of Kapoho?  They never sought any advice from me and I'm not sure what I'd have recommended if they did, for there was no real option for directional drilling a quarter century ago when they initiated their efforts.

However, if anyone is planning for any future geothermal ventures on the Big Island--a total of 850 MW is the speculation and PGV currently has the capacity for 30 MW--the ideal drilling spots are all on various rift zones:

This is one of those speculations I make where I hope I'm proven wrong.

However, prospects are higher for anti-geothermal advocates nailing that coffin with reports of earthquakes and mega-tsunamis stimulated by geothermal energy production.  Here are four:

1. Michael Salla:  HAWAII VOLCANIC ERUPTION INTENTIONALLY TRIGGERED TO GENERATE MASSIVE TSUNAMI?  What was the trigger?  Puna Geothermal Ventures and their fracking practice.
2. NPR:  WASTEWATER WELLS, GEOTHERMAL POWER TRIGGERING EARTHQUAKES
3. David Jacobson:  WAS SOUTH KOREA'S MOST DAMAGING EARTHQUAKE GEOTHERMALLY INDUCED?
4. Here is a clip arguing that Puna Geothermal Ventures induced the current eruption in Puna.

And yes, I do have my Six Hours to Seattle novel in production, so you can also blame me for some of these fears.

So sad, for geothermal electricity is baseload, and the lowest cost energy option, where wind energy and natural gas are #2, with hydropower at #4:

Note that both coal and advanced nuclear are a lot more expensive, and this information comes from the U.S. Department of Energy, cranking in all the factors and issues for projected cost in the year 2020.

Not unlike people someday returning to live in the greater Puna region, the reason being the low cost of property, it would not surprise me if technology is eventually developed to someday in the future tap the heat brought up by magma.  Oh, one final giddy idea of mine:  45 years ago I submitted a mini-proposal to study the potential of deriving power from the hot magma pool left by Kilauea Iki.  It was not funded.

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