Can geothermal energy be stored? how?

Question

is it possible to store the energy produced by the geothermal powerplants? or has to be distrubuted or used up as its being produced.

and if not then how is it stored?

Answer 1

geothermal energy comes from hot rocks. my understanding is that water is pumped down into these hot rocks it then becomes hot and this is used to power a turbine.

so all the heat is underground and it wont go anywhere if you don't use it so it can be stored down there but any other energy storage is unnecessary because it can provide base load power.

it is slightly harder to transport the energy to homes because there may be larger distances but normally it is just put straight into the power grid.

Answer 2

The best way to store it is to leave it under ground until needed. There it will stay hot and be ready for you as demanded. If you convert it to electricity it can not be stored efficiently because A/C power can not be stored, only D/C. And all Geothermal Power plant convert the power to A/C so they can add it to the grid which is also A/C. Unless you make a geothermal power plant with D/C generators powering HUGH batteries ready to be inverted back to A/C when needed, your question can't be lived out.

Answer 3

Geothermal energy is usually converted to electricity in a Geothermal power plant. Its great as it is pretty steady stream of power (unlike wind, or solar) so it is easy to guarantee how much power that plant can supply to the power grid.

For storage, you can store it as Hydrogen, which is the most compact long-term storage form, or as water pumped up a reservoir to be used in a hydropowered power plant later.

For transmission to home, use the regular power grid.

Answer 4

yes it would be stored in a battery or even as hot water in a

storage tank then that steam could be changed to kinetic

energy to spin a turban that would produce electricity. the excess power that a power plant produces is diverted to another grid that needs it if none is needed you just make less.

Answer 5

Geothermal energy is stored in the ground until it is needed.

you need to research how geothermal energy is produced

the steam is run through the power house as it is needed.

Answer 6

Geothermal installations will have a finite capacity to supply wattage, so there might be a need for a power plant to store energy, but it is more economical to create more installations, increase the base capacity.

When converted to electrical energy and fed into the grid it still has to be consumed as produced, but rather than dumping it the grid could be converting electricity to flywheel power, hydrogen, or pumping water from below a dam up to the top of the dam for later use.

Next, when there is surplus electrical power, coal or gas fired plants can cut back on production.

Answer 7

It's not stored.  About 6 feet down into the earth, the temperature is 50 degrees F.  To make a complicated answer simple, in the winter,  the well or wells that are drilled extract that heat, and through a heat pump, send that heat to the home/business in a forced hot air system.  In the summer, the opposite happens.  The same heat pump takes the heat from the residence/business and sends it back outside into the well.  Cold is nothing but an absence of heat.  You can read more about this by visiting:  http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=ge...

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