Renewable Energy

Overview

 

Renewable Energy is becoming increasingly important as a part of transition to a sustainable energy economy. The past use and current dependency on fossil fuels is causing major environmental impacts, such as global warming, deterioration of air & water quality, degradation of ecosystems, as well as social & political impacts.

 

Renewable Energy is a rapidly growing source of heat and power worldwide. In the UK the contribution of Renewable sources to electricity supply is set by the government to rise from 4% in 2005 to 10% by 2010 and by 20% by 2020. By 2070, Renewable sources are expected to supply about 60% of the worlds energy in the form of heat and power, according to some projections, however the rate of their development needs to be accelerated, in order to have sufficient capacity to meet growing energy needs.

 

Sources of Renewable Energy can be categorised into two groups:

 

Solar derived renewable energy

  • Wind power (on-shore & off-shore wind turbines)

  • Water power (hydroelectric, tidal (fixed barrage, tidal steam) wave power (shore-based & off-shore), ocean thermal energy conversion)

  • Solar energy (photo-voltaic (electricity); solar thermal water heating)

  • Biomass (biomass heating, liquid bio-fuels, anaerobic digestion, power generation, CHP)

Geothermal derived energy

  • Direct Heating

  • Electricity Production

  • Hot Dry Rocks (experimental technology)

  • Heat pumps (solar energy is partly being utilised)

 If you would like to know more more about Solar or Wind energy, please click on these keys. Further information about Geothermal energy is below.

 

Our Services

 

We provide, with our substantial experience of the subsurface environment, a range of services relating to all forms of geothermal energy. Specialising in geothermal energy applications, we take a holistic approach to our projects and where possible try to integrate other renewable and low carbon technologies. Our strong technical and commercial skills combined with considerable managerial experience means we can provide our clients with an unrivalled level of knowledge and experience, that has proved invaluable at both a technical and strategic level.

 

The type of projects we undertake include:

  • Effective solutions for cutting energy costs and reducing CO2 emissions

  • Feasibility studies (technical and commercial) utilising geothermal energy & integrated renewable energy technologies

  • Geological site assessment

  • Due diligence for project financing

  • Economic & risk analysis

  • Technology reviews

  • Information on grants & suppliers

  • Policy advice

  • Environmental impact assessments

  • Applications of new oil & gas technology to geothermal energy

If you would like further information on the services that Petrenel can provide, please contact our Renewable Energy Coordinator, Anna Smith.

 

Auroville, Southern India

 

 

 

 

Diagram of geothermal system

Space Heating with Ground Source Heat Pumps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Experience

 

Our staff and associates have considerable relevant experience in the practice of geology, geophysics, engineering and environmental science and management. 

 

 

Our experience and knowledge covers

  • Ground Source Heat Pumps

  • Direct Geothermal Heating

  • High & Low Temperature Power Generation

  • Integrated Renewable Energy Solutions

For a full listing of the countries we have work in and the projects we have undertaken please go to the Projects page.

 

       

 

Geothermal Power Plant
Geothermal Energy

What is Geothermal Energy

Geothermal Energy is defined as heat from the Earth. The geothermal energy resource is enormous, and is currently underused. Geothermal resources range from shallow ground to several miles beneath the surface. Geothermal Energy can be used to produce electricity, directly as hot water or steam to provide heat, and utilising shallow ground or water via heat pumps for space heating and cooling. While high-temperature geothermal sites suitable for electricity production are not widespread, low-temperature sites almost everywhere in the world can provide heating and cooling for buildings.   In the UK the ground temperature to the depth of up to 15m is about 8-11°C. Below this the ground temperature increases at, on average, 2.6°C per 100m. Mean temperatures at 100m in the UK vary between 7-15°C, increasing to about 17.5°C at 200m depth.     

                        

Types of Geothermal Energy                             

 

On the temperature scale, geothermal energy sources can be classified as:

  • Low-temperature (<90C)

  • Medium Temperature (90-150C)

  • High Temperature (>150C)   

Using Geothermal Energy   

 

Geothermal Energy involves the exploitation of different kinds of thermal energy stored within the earth. The main ways of tapping geothermal energy are:    

           

Geothermal Energy and the Earth's Interior

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For further details of Petrenel services please contact Anna Smith

asmith@petrenel.com