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The Geysers, a geothermal power
Geothermal power

Geothermal power is energy generated from heat stored in the earth, or the collection of absorbed heat derived from underground.Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal generator on 4 July 1904, at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy....
 field located 72 miles (116 km) north of San Francisco, California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
, is the largest geothermal development in the world. It is currently outputting over 750 MW
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
. The Geysers consists of 22 separate power plants
Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the Electricity generation of electric power.Power plant is also used to refer to the engine in ships, aircraft and other large vehicles....
 that utilize steam from more than 350 producing wells.

The Calpine Corporation operates and owns 19 of the 22 facilities. The other three facilities are operated by the Northern California Power Agency
Northern California Power Agency

The Northern California Power Agency, located in Roseville, California, is a Joint Powers Authority formed in 1968 to provide its members with electrical energy purchasing, aggregation, scheduling and management....
 and the Western GeoPower Corporation.

Description
The Geysers geothermal development spans an area of around 30 square miles (78 kmē) in Sonoma
Sonoma County, California

Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of California, is one of the northernmost counties of the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, United States Its population at the 2000 census was 458,614....
 and Lake
Lake County, California

Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. It takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the list of California counties and the largest natural lake wholly within California ....
 counties in California, located in the Mayacamas Mountains.






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The Geysers, a geothermal power
Geothermal power

Geothermal power is energy generated from heat stored in the earth, or the collection of absorbed heat derived from underground.Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal generator on 4 July 1904, at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy....
 field located 72 miles (116 km) north of San Francisco, California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
, is the largest geothermal development in the world. It is currently outputting over 750 MW
WATT

WATT is a radio station broadcasting a News radio-Talk radio-Sports radio format. Licensed to Cadillac, Michigan, it first began broadcasting in 1945....
. The Geysers consists of 22 separate power plants
Power station

A power station is an industrial facility for the Electricity generation of electric power.Power plant is also used to refer to the engine in ships, aircraft and other large vehicles....
 that utilize steam from more than 350 producing wells.

The Calpine Corporation operates and owns 19 of the 22 facilities. The other three facilities are operated by the Northern California Power Agency
Northern California Power Agency

The Northern California Power Agency, located in Roseville, California, is a Joint Powers Authority formed in 1968 to provide its members with electrical energy purchasing, aggregation, scheduling and management....
 and the Western GeoPower Corporation.

Description


The Geysers geothermal development spans an area of around 30 square miles (78 kmē) in Sonoma
Sonoma County, California

Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of California, is one of the northernmost counties of the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, United States Its population at the 2000 census was 458,614....
 and Lake
Lake County, California

Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. It takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the list of California counties and the largest natural lake wholly within California ....
 counties in California, located in the Mayacamas Mountains. Power from The Geysers provides electricity to Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Marin, and Napa counties. It is estimated that the development meets 60 percent of the power demand for the coastal region between the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S....
 and the Oregon
Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
 state line.

Steam used at the Geysers is produced from a greywacke
Greywacke

Greywacke is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly-sorted, angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments set in a compact, clay-fine matrix....
 sandstone reservoir, that is capped by a heterogeneous mix of low permeability rocks and underlaid by a Felsite
Felsite

Felsite is a very fine grained volcanic rock that may or may not contain larger crystals. Felsite is a field term for a light colored rock that typically requires petrographic examination or chemical analysis for more precise definition....
 intrusion
Intrusion

In geology, an intrusion is a body of igneous rock that has crystallized from molten magma below the surface of the Earth. Bodies of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface of the earth are called plutons, named for Pluto , the Roman mythology of the underworld....
. Gravity and seismic studies suggest that the source of heat for the steam reservoir is a large magma
Magma

Magma is molten Rock that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and may also exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and gas bubbles....
 chamber over 4 miles (7 km) beneath the ground, and greater than 8 miles (14 km) in diameter.

Unlike most geothermal resources, the Geysers is a dry steam field, which means it mainly produces superheated steam. Because the power plant turbines require a vapor phase input, dry steam resources are generally preferable. Otherwise, a two-phase separator is required between the turbine and the geothermal wells to remove condensation that is produced with the steam.

History


The first recorded discovery of The Geysers was in 1847 during John Fremont's survey of the Sierra Mountains
Sierra mountains

A sierra is a word from the Spanish language meaning a mountain range . It is used for various mountains and mountain ranges in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries....
 and the Great Basin
Great Basin

The Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States. Its boundaries depend on how it is defined. Its most common definition is the contiguous drainage basin, roughly between the Wasatch Mountains, in Utah and the Sierra Nevada , that has no natural outlet to the sea....
 by William Bell Elliot. Elliot called the area "The Geysers," although the geothermal features he discovered were not technically geysers, but fumaroles. Soon after, in 1852, The Geysers was developed into a spa for The Geysers Resort Hotel, which attracted the likes of Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant , was an United States general and the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States ....
, Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
, and Mark Twain
Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
.

See also

  • Geothermal energy in the United States
    Geothermal energy in the United States

    Geothermal energy in the United States continues to be an area of considerable activity. The USA is the world leader in online capacity of geothermal energy and the generation of electricity from geothermal energy....
  • Geothermal power
    Geothermal power

    Geothermal power is energy generated from heat stored in the earth, or the collection of absorbed heat derived from underground.Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal generator on 4 July 1904, at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy....


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