The US needs geothermal plants to boost its lithium supply and EV battery industry
Geothermal power is no longer the ugly duckling of green energy
Enough lithium to far exceed today’s US demand
Geothermal power plants use heat from the Earth to generate a constant supply of steam to run turbines that produce electricity. The plants operate by bringing up a complex saline solution located far underground, where it absorbs heat and is enriched with minerals such as lithium, manganese, zinc, potassium and boron.
Geothermal brines arethe concentrated liquid left overafter heat and steam are extracted at a geothermal plant. In the Salton Sea plants, these brines contain high concentrations – about 30% – of dissolved solids.
If test projects now underway prove that battery-grade lithium can be extracted from these brines cost effectively, 11 existing geothermal plants along the Salton Sea alone could have the potential to produce enough lithium metal to provide about10 timesthecurrent U.S. demand.
Three geothermal operators at the Salton Sea geothermal field are in various stages of designing, constructing and testing pilot plants for direct lithium extraction from the hot brines.
At full production capacity, the 11 existing power plants near the Salton Sea, which currently generate about 432 megawatts of electricity, could also produce about20,000 metric tons of lithium metalper year. The annual market value of this metal would be over $5 billion at current prices.
Geopolitical risks in the lithium supply chain
Existing lithium supply chains are rife with uncertainties that put mineral security in question for the United States.
Russia’s war in Ukraineand competition with China, as well asclose ties between Russia and China, underscore the geopolitical implications of the mineral-intensive clean energy transformation.
China is currently the leader in lithium processingand actively procures lithium reserves from other major producers.Chinese state mining operators often own minesin other countries, which produce other vital clean energy minerals like cobalt and nickel.
There is currentlyone lithium production facilityin the U.S. That facility, in Nevada, extracts saline liquid and concentrates the lithium byallowing the water to evaporateinlarge, shallow ponds. In contrast, the process for extracting lithium while producing geothermal energy returns the water and brines to the earth. Adding another domestic source of lithium could improve energy and mineral security for the United States and its allies.
A lack of policy support
Geothermal power today representsless than 0.5%of the utility-scale electricity generation in the U.S.
One reason it remains a stagnant energy technology in the U.S. is the lack of strong policy support. Preliminary findings froma research studybeing conducted by one of us indicate that part of the problem is rooted in disagreements among older and newer geothermal companies themselves, including how they talk about geothermal energy’s benefits with policymakers, investors, the media and the public.
Geothermal power has the ability to complement solar and wind energy as a baseload power source –it is constant, unlike sunshine and wind – and to provide energy and mineral security. It could also offer a professional bridge for oil, gas and coal employees to transition into the clean energy economy.
The industry could benefit from policies likerisk mitigation fundsto lessen drilling exploration costs, grant programs to demonstrate innovations,long-term power contractsortax incentives.
Adding the production of critical metals like lithium, manganese and zinc from geothermal brines could provide geothermal electrical power operators a new competitive advantage and help get geothermal onto the policy agenda.
Geothermal energy gets a boost in California
Trends might be moving in the right direction for geothermal energy producers.
In February, the California Public Utilities Commission adopted a newPreferred System Plan that encourages the state to develop 1,160 megawattsof new geothermal electricity. That’s on top of a2021 decision to procure 1,000 megawattsfrom zero emissions, renewable, firm generating resources with an 80% capacity factor – which can only be met by geothermal technologies.
The California decisions were primarily meant to complement intermittent renewable energy, like solar and wind, and the retirement of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. They suggest that the era of geothermal as the forgotten renewable energy may be ending.
Article byBryant Jones, Ph.D. Candidate of Energy Policy,Boise State UniversityandMichael McKibben, Research Professor of Geology,University of California, Riverside
This article is republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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