An energy return on investment for a geothermal power plant on the Texas Gulf Coast

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorKing, Carey Wayne, 1974-
dc.creatorKampa, Kyle Benjaminen
dc.date.accessioned2013-10-25T18:49:43Zen
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-11T22:35:14Z
dc.date.available2017-05-11T22:35:14Z
dc.date.issued2013-05en
dc.date.submittedMay 2013en
dc.date.updated2013-10-25T18:49:43Zen
dc.descriptiontexten
dc.description.abstractThis thesis examines the energy return on investment (EROI) of a model 3 MW hybrid gas-geothermal plant on the Texas Gulf Coast. The model plant uses a design similar to the DOE Pleasant Bayou No. 2 test geothermal plant, and uses a gas engine to harness entrained methane and an Organic Rankine Cycle turbine to harness thermal energy from hot brines. The indirect energy cost was calculated using the Carnegie Mellon University Economic Input-Output Life Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (EIO-LCA) model. The EROI of the plant using the 1997 EIO-LCA energy data is 12.40, and the EROI of the plant using 2002 EIO-LCA energy data is 14.18. Sensitivity analysis was run to determine how the plant parameters affect the EROI. A literature review of the EROI of different power sources shows that the EROI of the hybrid geothermal plant is greater than the EROI of flash steam geothermal and solar, but is lower than the EROI of dry steam geothermal, wind power, nuclear, coal, gas, and hydroelectric plants. An analysis of the EROI to financial return on investment (FROI) shows that the FROI for a hybrid geothermal plant could be competitive with wind and solar as a viable renewable resource in the Texas electricity market.en
dc.description.departmentEnergy and Earth Resourcesen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/21768en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.subjectEROIen
dc.subjectEnergy return on investmenten
dc.subjectGeothermal energyen
dc.subjectGeothermal poweren
dc.subjectTexasen
dc.subjectGulf Coasten
dc.subjectenergyen
dc.subjectHybrid gas-geothermal planten
dc.subjectFinancial return on investmenten
dc.subjectFROIen
dc.titleAn energy return on investment for a geothermal power plant on the Texas Gulf Coasten

Files

Collections

University of Texas at Austin