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Feb 22, 2012Japanese Hot Spring generates own power with KalinaCycle unit
An interesting development in Japan could provide a good idea for the utilization of the many geothermal hot springs in Western Canada.
Australian company Wasabi Energy announced it has designed and build a Kalina Cycle EcoGen unit at a Japanese Hot Spring. The Kalina Cycle is essentially a binary technology geothermal power plant, that utilizes a secondary fluid boiling at lower temperatures to generate steam that runs a turbine and produces power. This way lower temperature resources can be used for power generation from geothermal resources, such as hot springs.
The small size of the unit now started up in Japan could provide an interesting options for the many hot springs in Canada, as it not only would provide a potentially additional revenue stream, but make the hot springs utilize the energy they are sitting on.
The installation in Japan at the Matsunoyama Onsen hot spring at Tokamachi, Niigata in Japan, is part of a Japanese state sponsored research and development project. Similar efforts in Canada could have great implications.
For the full news see link below.
Source: ThinkGeoEnergy
