Oceanic Geothermal Power

With most of the earth’s low-lying regions under water, the earth’s potential geothermal power sources are also mostly under water. Two MBA candidates and a PhD in mechanical engineering have proposed to retrofit decommissioned oil derricks to tap submarine geothermal vents. Assuming a vent temperature of 250 degrees C, the group estimates it can generate 30 MW per rig! The team says it’s already piqued the interest of Chevron and it certainly has us paying attention.

I'd like to see how the economics pencil out, but given that the derrick is already there and you could run a powerline in the oil pipeline (or at least I bet you could), and if there really is 30 MW in potential power, this look like it could work.

Check out some other cool new Cleantech ideas in the article.

via Earth2Tech