Techno-economics of Geothermal Power in the Contiguous United States Under Baseload and Flexible Operations (Dataset)

This dataset was created as part of a project that is undergoing journal peer-review. Here is the abstract: As geothermal technology continues to gain momentum, it becomes increasingly essential for stakeholders to assess the economic feasibility of geothermal power projects when integrated into electricity markets. This study aimed to evaluate the techno-economic viability of identified and undiscovered hydrothermal systems across the contiguous United States. Multiple data and methods were developed and integrated to model the lifecycle techno-economics of geothermal projects at hourly resolution. Additionally, flexible operations through wellhead throttling were evaluated to estimate the potential improvement compared to business-as-usual power plant operations. A total of 3,632 and 17,789 MWe of identified and undiscovered hydrothermal resources, respectively, were found to be economically competitive. Multiple sites were profitable under a typical 70 USD/MWh power purchase agreement, with return on investment close to 400%. However, operating in the open power market yielded non-profitable projects across the majority of sites. Opting for flexible dispatch resulted in an improved economic performance. Particularly, the most profitable site had nearly 20\% relative improvement in return on investment upon switching from baseload to flexible dispatch.本数据集为一项正在接受期刊同行评审的研究项目的产出成果，以下为该项目的研究摘要： 伴随地热技术的发展势能持续攀升，利益相关方在将地热发电项目接入电力市场时，评估其经济可行性的必要性日益凸显。本研究旨在评估美国本土全域内已探明与未发现的水热地热系统的技术经济可行性。研究团队开发并整合了多源数据与分析方法，以小时级分辨率构建地热项目全生命周期技术经济模型。此外，本研究还评估了通过井口节流实现的灵活运行模式，以估算其相较于常规电厂运行模式的性能提升潜力。 研究结果显示，已探明与未发现的水热地热资源中，分别有3632兆瓦与17789兆瓦的装机容量具备经济竞争力。在典型的70美元/兆瓦时购电协议框架下，多个站点可实现盈利，投资回报率接近400%。然而，若在开放电力市场中运行，绝大多数站点的项目均无法实现盈利。采用灵活调度模式可改善经济表现：其中经济效益最优的站点，从基荷运行切换至灵活调度后，投资回报率相对提升近20%。