APACHE COUNTY - The world is paying attention to a new type of energy technology that will start its experimental phase at the St. Johns Dome, a natural carbon dioxide dome between St. Johns and Springerville.  GreenFire Energy is the company developing the technology that has the potential to create carbon dioxide based geothermal renewable energy.

GreenFire was in Springerville Oct. 5 to give a presentation to the public on the technology.

The company spent years looking throughout the world for the perfect location to start its project. The St. Johns dome is the best site due to its combination of a large volume of low cost natural carbon dioxide, the likely presence of a thermal reservoir under the dome area and a local connection to the power grid.

The company received a grant from the Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Program to help fund the project. GreenFire has other investors and partners in the project including the Ridgeway Arizona Oil Company.

“Receiving this grant is a big step for GreenFire Energy,” siad Randy Balik, Vice President of Business Development. “We have believed for several years that carbon dioxide holds tremendous potential as a suite of clean, inexpensive renewable energy technologies that can also sequester carbon dioxide. With this grant, the DOE has now demonstrated its belief in GreenFire’s technology concepts.”

The first phase of the project is expected to begin in the spring of 2011 and entails drilling holes in excess of 7,000 feet to place seismic monitors to check the effects of deep drilling. The area is very seismically inactive, but the company is required to establish a baseline seismic activity record before proceeding.

The benefits to carbon dioxide based geothermal energy include: the lowest combined capital and operational costs of any scalable generation system, no air emissions, generates renewable energy and it can sequester carbon.

The process injects cool carbon dioxide into the wells that pass through hot rock. The gas is then looped back to the surface and passed to a heat exchanger that uses a binary system to generate power. The carbon dioxide is then pumped back into the well to create a closed-loop system. Carbon dioxide doesn’t take as much heat as water which makes it perfect for the site selected.

Another benefit of the technology is the ability to capture carbon emissions from fossil fuel power plants. “If carbon capture technologies are deployed in the future, these facilities can provide GreenFire additional carbon dioxide for added power production, while sequestering carbon dioxide at the same time,” says the company’s web site. “As power plants around the world begin implementing carbon capture and sequestration, many additional sites for CO2-based geothermal energy projects may become available.”

Those present at the meeting asked many questions of Balik and Alan Eastman, the company’s Vice President of Technology Development. One of the questions concerned the local aquifers and the potential for pollution. The company plans to seal off the pipes from the aquifers so there will be no contamination possible.

Another question asked was how this would affect Springerville and the surrounding communities. “At first, there will be very little impact. Local companies will be doing some of the work and some of us will be staying in area hotels and using the restaurants. As the process proceeds, it will create more of an impact,” Balik said.

Asked about carbon dioxide emissions that could spread throughout the area, Balik answered that there shouldn’t be any risks, but monitors will be set up.

The men said that there were no guarantees, but if this process works, there will be more jobs available and lots of attention from the rest of the world. Scientists and experts from around the world will want to see the operation first-hand to learn how to use it in their areas.

Eastman and Balik said that it will take several years to actually produce the energy after the initial testing and research is done.

“This has the potential to be one of the premier geothermal processors in the world,” said Eastman.

Reach the reporter at kwarnick@wmicentral.com.

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