Researchers say it’s technology that could one day replace power plants that run with coal. Today, nearly 70-percent of the electricity in the United States is produced by burning fossil fuels.
The test project is getting underway at Rhame, near Bowman in the southwestern part of North Dakota. A special engine that can make steam out of warm water pumped out of the ground with oil, powers a turbine to create electricity.
GRC Member Will Gosnold, UND Geologist: “It actually boils at 60-degrees. So we can use the heat in the water that comes up with the oil. We heat that fluid and it flashes into steam and drives a turbine.”
The current project is just a test project to try and ramp up commercial electrical generation, which Gosnold says one day, could easily produce more electricity than coal fired plants, with zero pollution.
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