TOP: Weldon Exhibits – Phase 1 – 2015 Redesign – FPO Geothermal. COURTESY PHOTO
Boiling eggs in hot spring, Thailand. COURTESTY PHOTO
How Geothermal energy works. COURTESY PHOTO
LEFT: Western US Geothermal map. COURTESY PHOTO
TOP: Weldon Exhibits – Phase 1 – 2015 Redesign – FPO Geothermal. COURTESY PHOTO
Boiling eggs in hot spring, Thailand. COURTESTY PHOTO
How Geothermal energy works. COURTESY PHOTO
LEFT: Western US Geothermal map. COURTESY PHOTO
Education Specialists at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum have just wrapped up writing their script on geothermal energy for their five-part Green Energy Video Series. The world’s high dependence on fossil fuels has created a movement to decrease the speed in which we consume these nonrenewable resources and turn to green and renewable resources instead. The goal of IVDM’s Green Energy Video Series is to showcase what renewable energy sources are found in the Valley, especially to younger audiences. In the Imperial Valley, geothermal energy is concentrated in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field, better known as the Salton Sea Buttes, the Valley’s very own group of volcanoes.
Geothermal power is heat within the Earth, more specifically, 1,800 miles below the surface in the Earth’s core. At a temperature of 54,000 degrees Celsius, the Earth’s core is as hot as the Sun’s surface. This heat is generated constantly for two main reasons: the heat created during planetary formation was never lost and the decay of radioactive materials in the core is a never ending producer of heat.
Major plate boundaries where earthquakes are frequent are areas of abundant geothermal activity. The Imperial Valley, which sits on the boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate, is a great example of this. When an earthquake occurs, it brings the core’s heat and magma to the Earth’s crust, heating everything in its path like rocks and underground reservoirs of water. That heat is then released into the surface through volcanoes, like the Salton Sea Buttes, as well as geysers and hot springs, all found throughout California.
The First Peoples Connection to Geothermal Power
The First Peoples of North America have used hot springs to cook, heat their homes and bathe for at least 10,000 years. In Europe and Africa during the Roman Empire, public bathhouses heated by geothermal power became incredibly popular. As a matter of fact, many of these Roman bathhouses still stand today. Although you can’t bathe in them like the Romans once did, they’re still quite the impressive tourist attraction.
Native Americans like many other civilizations across the world, viewed hot springs as sacred places with healing and purifying abilities. The First Peoples of our region, the Kumeyaay, took advantage of the geothermal power in the land. The Kumeyaay are the indigenous people that have lived and currently live in San Diego County, Imperial County, and Northern Baja California, Mexico for at least ten thousand years. An important site for the Kumeyaay is Jacumba Hot Springs. It served not only as a place where the Kumeyaay gathered, settled, and cleansed themselves, but also where many of the Kumeyaay’s creation stories began.
Additionally, the Salton Sea Buttes were a source of natural resources for the Kumeyaay. The Obsidian Butte, one of the five volcanoes present at the Salton Sea, provided the Kumeyaay with obsidian stone. This black, glass stone is one of the sharpest stones in existence and was perfect for the Kumeyaay to create projectiles and blades with.
How Does Geothermal Energy Work?
In order to capture geothermal power and create electricity in the Imperial Valley, geothermal plants drill one or two miles into the earth until reaching an underground reservoir of water. These reservoirs contain not only hot water, but a saline solution of various dissolved metals. These geothermal fluids are pumped through a well under high pressure and as these fluids reach the surface, the pressure drops, turning the geothermal fluids into steam. This steam turns a turbine which is connected to a generator, and thus, electricity is generated. Once the steam cools and becomes liquid once more, the geothermal fluids are pumped back into the earth in order to repeat the process.
The development of the first geothermal plant in the Imperial Valley can be traced back to 1979. Today, there are eleven geothermal plants located in the Salton Sea Geothermal Field. Of those eleven, ten are operated by CalEnergy while the eleventh is operated by EnergySource. The combined capacity of the CalEnergy plants is 345 net megawatts and delivers output for customers such as the city of Riverside, Salt River Project, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Imperial Irrigation District, Southern California Edison and Arizona Public Service.
In recent years, plans to build a lithium extraction facility in the Imperial Valley have been discussed. The water in the underground reservoirs are filled with various types of metals, one of them being lithium. Lithium is a key ingredient in the creation of electric car batteries. This metal can be extracted from the saline solution before being pumped back into the earth. Operations are expected to begin in 2023 where it is estimated that the facility will be able to extract 15,000 tons of lithium.
Two more geothermal power plants are expected to be established in 2023.
The Good and the Bad
Geothermal energy holds many advantages. It is a renewable energy source that is less harmful to the environment, meaning it does not release as many greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere as conventional fossil fuels do. It is a reliable resource since power output can be predicted almost exactly. However, one of the biggest disadvantages when it comes to geothermal energy is location. While in California this is not a problem, worldwide and nationwide it is. Only a few states in the western part of the country are capable of holding geothermal plants. Additionally, drilling into the earth to capture geothermal power may also trigger earthquakes and may allow underground gasses to rise to the surface.
Still, geothermal is a great source of sustainable energy, lowering our dependence on more harmful fuels. Geothermal power still has so much to be explored and lithium extraction is only the beginning. This new extraction facility will not only increase profits for the plant, but create new employment opportunities.
Geothermal energy is a green and never ending energy source that we have yet to explore completely. Continue tuning into our summer series on renewable energies right here with the Imperial Valley Press. Up next: hydroelectric energy and biomass! And if you’re interested in the history of the land we are now standing on, don’t forget to check out our YouTube series on the Kumeyaay!
The Imperial Valley Desert Museum is located in Ocotillo. It is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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