New technology to boost geothermal industry?

It's big in Iceland.

But geothermal still has a ways to go in North America, though a report out today said new technology could help increase the use of the renewable energy resource in the U.S.

Modular components and the use of hybrid cooling are just two advances that have the potential for significant cost savings for geothermal companies, according to the Geothermal Energy Association.

The Washington, D.C. trade group released its findings in The State of Geothermal Technology Part II: Surface Technology.

"It's been a struggle between air and water cooling because of the water constraints, particularly in the West," Alyssa Kagel, the author of the report, told the Cleantech Group.

Kagel said the Mammoth Pacific power plant in California is using hybrid cooling, which incorporates the best of both systems, increasing seasonal efficiency while reducing water use.

Take a look at the Mammoth plant here >>

Mammoth is a partnership between Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group (NYSE: CEG) and Reno, Nev.-based Ormat (NYSE: ORA).

In the U.S., up to 2.9 gigawatts of geothermal power is currently under development, according to the Geothermal Energy Association, but that could be just a fraction of what's available.

Part one of the report, released in November, focused on subsurface technology and said most hydrothermal resources in the States have been found through surface manifestations such as hot springs.

But government research points to an incredibly large, "hidden," U.S. resource base. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated a potential of 126 GW nationally.

Geothermal companies already have to put up a large chunk of capital for exploring and drilling, so any cost savings in plant design would be positive for an industry looking to take advantage of that hidden potential.

Iceland's Glitnir Bank certainly plans to take up the search.

The bank said in September that it plans to invest $1 billion in U.S. geothermal energy projects over the next five years (see Glitnir pouring cash into geothermal).

Glitnir, which is hoping to grab at least 10 percent of the current market, believes other companies will need to invest a total of $39.4 billion to develop resources available through 2025.

Many of those companies may end up using modular components and subcomponents that be pulled from off the shelf designs that are mass produced, allowing developers to move ahead more rapidly with plant development, said the geothermal report.

The mass produced components could also make it easier to add capacity once a plant is established.

Kagel said two of the biggest players in the modular field are Ormat and South Windsor, Conn.'s UTC Power, a division of United Technologies (NYSE: UTX).

"Many researchers I talked to thought that that was the wave of the future, because it brings down costs and allows for standardization so that plants can come online quickly," she said.

Other new technologies covered in the report include mineral recovery from water and less expensive coatings for components, both of which can offer reduced scaling of the pipes in the system.

The trade group's research also points out the use of mixed fluids in geothermal, which can can reduce thermodynamic inefficiencies. The report said one working fluid especially suitable for lower temperature resources is an ammonia-water system.

Binary plants, which function as closed loop systems, can make use of resource temperatures as low as 165 degrees Fahrenheit, or 74 degrees Celsius, expanding the opportunities for geothermal plants.

One of those opportunities is in oilfields, some of which are already producing hot water.

"Many of them, especially in Texas, consider the hot water to be a nuisance," said Kagel.

"So if it could be used to develop geothermal on a very small scale, that could really expand the use of geothermal. And because we can now use resources at lower temperatures, that's something that could be possible."

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