Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 48

E-12 JOURNAL Wednesday, January 2, 1974 Power Increases in Importance pumped to the surface and harnessed to run generators. "The main obstacle is that this water contains so many impurities it would destroy even the most sophisticated equipment we have today," Newton said. "Forinstance, the brine water is nine times saltier than sea water." He predicted improved technology eventually would overcome this hurdle. like the Oklahoma land rush," Alioto told a state senate committee in November. Newton said is developing the area as fast as economics and environmental safety permit.

ALTHOUGH THE Geysers is the only known source of dry steam available in the United States, Newton says the Great Plains and Western states have vast pools of brine and hot water which could be that freer competition for use of the steam would help overcome the fuel shortage created by the Arab oil embargo. "At a time when the U.S. is being blackmailed by four sheiks and a shah, we ought to be developing the Sonomas County geysers back underground. TWO SMALL oil companies, which later merged with Union Oil Co. of California, built the first successful wells on The Geysers in 1956.

PG opened its first power plant here in 1960, the third major facilityof itskind inthe ties that want to use some of the steam to run their own proposed $50 million generating plant. Union Oil says it will sell to any customer. The cities say the price is artifically high. San Francisco Mayor Joseph L. Alioto, an antitrust laywer, has argued by 1977.

Then The Geysers will crank out enough electricity to supply a city the size of San Francisco. THE ARRANGEMENT whereby buys the steam direct from Union Oil has been criticized as monopolistic by a group of 11 Northern California ci world. Geothermal power already was being generated in Lardello, Italy near Pisa and in Wairekei, New Zealand. The company, which has invested $60 million in 10 generator plants, plans to nave five more in operation lllOit l0 Kf cif DCKl HAM CllkirtAY I ft-7 i ALBUQUERQUE Geyser 9 THE GEYSERS, Calif. (AP) Steam geysers which once spawned a 19th century health spa now turn the turbines of a computerized electric, generating plant, the nation's only geothermal power plant.

The Geysers Power Plant of Pacific Gas Electric on 15,000 acres of rough and rocky terrain here, is one of the world's largest geothermal power plants. Using natural steam, it now turns out 396,000 kilowatts of power enough to supply all the electric needs of a city of 400,000. ENERGY EXPERTS say projects like this which harness heat beneath the earth's surface are increasingly important at a time when oil and other traditional fuels are in short supply. "Right now The Geysers supply about 3 per cent of our total electric capacity in Northern California," said Christopher Newton, the company's information officer. "But our researchers feel the area may contain as much as two million kilowatts worth of steam enough to suppl 1 0 per cent of our eventual needs." OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA, geothernal power apparent-ly has little future.

The Geysers is the only known source of dry steam in the United States. Four thousand feet up among the volcanic fissures of the Mayacamus Mountains, 90 miles northeast of San Francisco, seems an unlikely site for a modern power plant. The compact, bay berry-painted buildings and miles of asbestos-covered pipeline that hug the ground contrast with the bleak, sparsely vegetated countryside where random puffs of smoke rise from the earth. The plant is run by a giant computer in downtown San Francisco and the only workmen on the scene handle maintenance or new building. NEARBY ARE the dilapidated remnants of a once-fashionable resort which flourished in the late 1800s.

The lure of mineral steam baths with their supposed curative powers attracted such notables as President Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain and the Italian nationalist Garibaldi. Geologists say The Geysers technically is a misnomer because the steam pours out at a steady rate instead of erupting at intervals as from a true geyser such as Old Faithful. The steam vents properly called fumaroles occur where the layerof molten rock 20 miles below the earth's surface has been pushed up by earth tremors nearly to the surface. It then heats up vast reservoirs of ground water to a temperature far above boiling, creating a steam which escapes through any available cracks in the ground.

ENGINEERS WHO want to harness this energy dig a well much like an oil well to tap the steam before it dissipates into the atmosphere. The well sucks the steam heated to 350 degrees fahrenheit to the surface at 100 pounds per square inch pressure. The steam is piped through centrifugal separators to remove mineral impurities that would corrode and clog generators. After being cleansed, the dry heat from 14 different wells is collected into a single set of pipes and fed to the generating plant, where it hits the turbines with sufficient force to keep them spinning and churning out electric power. Finally, the steam is pumped to giant coolers where it is mixed with cold water so that it condenses and can eventually seep Station Using New Letters By Associated Press Radio Station KRKE began using its new call letters Monday, said general manager Del Wood.

KRKE formerly was known as KGGM Radio. It was sold Dec. 1, 1973, to WKY Television Systems of Oklahoma City, which now operates KRKE. Wood said Frank Asbury of Phoenix, has been named KRKE news director. He'joins the station Friday from Radio K.OY in Phoenix, where he has been news editor.

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