Innovative Technology to Harness Geothermal Energy from Active Ridge Flanks and Oceanic Islands: Advantage for the Oil Industries to Bring Energy Transition
摘要
An innovative technology to harness geothermal energy from the active Red Sea ridge flanks is presented. The oil industries have the expertise and capabilities to install off-shore platforms to harness this energy. Each geothermal power plant over the off-shore platform can generate 40 MWe minimum considering the available heat over the flanks. Instead of abandoning and/or decommissioning non-producing and non-profitable wells, the oil industries can utilize the entire heat available from these wells using geothermal technology. This innovative technology can be implemented over the ocean islands that are depending completely on imported fossil fuels. While electricity can be supplied to these oceanic islands, the energy from the ocean ridge flanks can be utilized for generating freshwater using desalination technology and also for powering the Middle East and countries around the Red Sea for sustainable development with food-water-energy security. Each off-shore platform can generate 40 MWe, equivalent to 315 billion kWh which can generate 19 billion m3 of freshwater. In the future, oil industries can play a major role to achieve or move towards creating a Net-Zero Emissions (NZE) status in the world.