Geothermal renewable energy prospects of the African continent using GIS

Geothermal renewable energy prospects of the African continent using GIS

Geothermal energy potential is identified through the deep investigation of geological, geothermal, and geophysical information over a small area; however, this task is both expensive and complex. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can integrate different types of data (or thematic layers) over la...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geothermal energy (Heidelberg) Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 1 - 19
Main Authors: Elbarbary, Samah, Abdel Zaher, Mohamed, Saibi, Hakim, Fowler, Abdel-Rahman, Saibi, Kamal
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 30-05-2022
Springer Nature B.V
SpringerOpen
Subjects:
Africa
Datasets
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Energy
Environmental management
Geoecology/Natural Processes
Geographic information systems
Geographical information systems
Geological faults
Geology
Geophysics
Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences
Geothermal energy
Geothermal potential
Geothermal resources
Geothermal studies
GIS model
Heat flow
Heat transmission
Hot springs
Information processing
Information systems
Potential map
Remote sensing
Renewable and Green Energy
Renewable energy
Renewable resources
Resource management
Seismicity
Volcanoes
Africa
Potential map
Geothermal energy
Geothermal potential
GIS model
Africa
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Geothermal energy potential is identified through the deep investigation of geological, geothermal, and geophysical information over a small area; however, this task is both expensive and complex. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can integrate different types of data (or thematic layers) over large regions and use them to identify zones of high geothermal potential. In this study, we use GIS as a tool to construct the first regional-scale geothermal potential map of Africa from different datasets. The key objective of this study is to estimate the geothermally promising areas within Africa by integrating geological thematic layers (rock units and faults), geophysical layers (heat flow derived from aeromagnetic data and seismicity), and geothermal layers (hot springs and volcanoes) within the GIS database. A weighted overlay technique within the GIS environment is applied to these data to generate the geothermal potential map. The result shows 14 regions with a high geothermal favorability index. The geothermal potential map of Africa is useful for targeting and exploring new geothermal renewable energy sites and can reduce exploration costs and pinpoint investigation areas during preliminary geothermal studies. Highlights The first geothermal potential map of Africa was constructed using GIS. A weighted overlay method was used to integrate various geo-datasets. The geothermal favorability map of Africa detected 14 high-potential zones.
ISSN:2195-9706
2195-9706
DOI:10.1186/s40517-022-00219-1