Students present award-winning proposal
During the summer, four students from the University of South Dakota made a trip to Reno, Nev. to present their award-winning business proposal on sustainability.
The proposal, “LTEC: Expanding the Viability of Geothermal Energy” focused on the uses of geothermal energy to produce large amounts of power.
Geothermal energy is the energy produced by the heat of the Earth’s molten core.
Assistant professor of Entrepreneurship at the Beacom School of Business Wade Druin served as the team’s adviser. Druin said geothermal energy is cleaner to produce than other forms of energy such as coal and geothermal energy turbines last longer than other energy plants.
“Geothermal energy is practically a perpetual energy source meaning it lasts almost forever,” Druin said.
The proposal the team created was centered on the founding of a fictional company and the creation of a fictional energy plant. The proposal also had to include a business plan for the fictional company. The entire project, while theoretical, is based on methods both already in use and also currently researched.
The proposal that the team came up with focuses on the viability of building a geothermal turbine plant in the Midwest. Team leader Nathan Bedoya, a junior majoring in sustainability, said two interconnected wells would be drilled approximately five kilometers into the Earth’s surface. Then cold water from a nearby water source such as a lake would be pumped down one well.
At the depth of five kilometers, the water would be heated and the pressure would raise the hot water and steam up the other well. Once at the top of the second well the heated water would be ran through a closed heating source using ammonia to heat up the remaining water. The water would then turn to steam which would power the turbine which would in turn produce energy.
The concept of the geothermal energy turbine is not new, said Bedoya. The same technology is already being used offshore in the ocean.
What makes the proposal submitted by USD’s team unique is that instead of the turbine using ocean water to run, it would be based on land and use a unique heating system to heat the water. LTEC would use a closed heating system not present in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion technology.
The cost of building one of these turbine plants would cost between $12-17 million but would produce energy for 20 or more years. The proposal may be just a theoretical business plan, Bedoya said, but other energy companies are already beginning to focus on using closed loop systems such as the group’s proposed system to produce energy.
“In our research, we found that the energy company ORMAT was already beginning to experiment with a similar idea using other chemicals to heat the water besides ammonia,” Bedoya said.
Bedoya also said the technology, while not well known or used, is starting to gain traction although most energy businesses are hesitant to go into details with their specific ideas. He said ORMAT was hesitant to say which chemicals or technology they were using.
“It’s all kind of hush hush,” he said.
Sponsor of the group Assistant professor of Sustainability Meghann Jarchow said the new sources of renewable energy such as geothermal energy would be important in the future.
“Right now, the focus is on energy conservation. We need to learn how to be more energy efficient,” she said.
