An article in the New Zealand Herald looking at scientists’ plans to investigate underground reservoirs of scalding hot water as a potential geothermal energy source.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“Geothermal fluid is born when rainwater penetrates deep into the earth’s crust and encounters sizzling hot rock.
“It flows through underground fissures in the rock and sometimes shoots to the surface as mud pools, hot springs or geysers.
“Steam from geothermal fluid drawn from as deep as 3.5km – as far as present drilling has gone – powers seven electricity stations, six of them in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, generating about 640MW a year, or 10 per cent of the country’s electricity.
“Scientists want to know if there are enough fissures carrying energy-rich fluid below that to justify spending tens of millions of dollars drilling deeper.”
