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Tapping Rocks for Power. European megawatt-scale power plant that uses bedrock heat

A European consortium is drawing closer to building a megawatt-scale power plant that uses bedrock heat.

Spend time in the French village of Soultz-sous-Forêts and you’re likely to experience a manmade earthquake. The vibrations — some as high as 2.87 on the Richter scale — are the most conspicuous element of a renewable energy research program that may succeed where others have failed.

By fracturing granite bedrock located five kilometers below the surface and pumping in super-saline water, a team of French, German, and Swiss engineers are extracting the rock’s thermal energy, and they plan to use it to produce pollution-free electricity. At least they will if the local residents put up with a little more shaking.

By Peter Fairley

Full Story: http://www.technologyreview.com/BizTech/wtr_16416,296,p1.html

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