New Trends in Designing and Constructing Geothermal Power Plants in Italy

Abstract

Reducing the time lapse between the discovery of geothermal fluids and the startup of a commercial operation of the power plants utilizing them is one of the most efficacious ways of making geothermal projects more economical. Given the lengthy construction times of power plant machinery, however, this reduction is possible only if the machinery is built before the fluid is found, and therefore the machinery must be easily adaptable to the different fluid qualities that may be encountered. ENEL and the Italian electromechanical industry have designed a small capacity (15 to 20 MW) condensation type geothermal power plant featuring extremely high adaptability to the differing characteristics of geothermal fluids (it is thus defined "universal"), very rapid assembly, and practically constant efficiency. Thirteen of these plants are schedule for installation in Italy in the near future and five are currently under construction. This paper describes the main technical aspects of the project and illustrates some of the economic implications of this new building philosophy.