Why Geothermal?
Geothermal energy offers several environmental and economic advantages over traditional fossil fuel sources. Geothermal power plants are both “clean” and “green”.
Clean electricity refers to alternative energy technologies such as geothermal that result in a net environmental improvement relative to fossil-fuel based energy production. Green energy is energy from renewable resources through environmentally and socially responsible developments.
Geothermal power plants are also “baseload” power sources meaning they can operate continuously at up to 98% capacity because they have a constant source of “fuel” and require little downtime for maintenance and not affected by changing weather conditions.
From an economic perspective, geothermal energy can be very price competitive. While initial investment is high, lifetime costs are low because the fuel source is free, it is located at the generation plant site (no transportation costs), and it is renewable. Large scale geothermal operations require economic transmission links.