Wairakei - a Fresh Look at Rejected Technologies

Abstract

1998 marks the 40th anniversary of the commissioning of the first units at Wairakei Geothermal Power Station,New Zealand. While precedents for geothermal power development had already been set in Italy with the harnessing of vapour-dominated fields, and in Japan on a small scale, it was Wairakei that led the way for large-scale development of water-dominated fields for power generation. At this 40th anniversary it is interesting to look back at some technologies that were considered for Wairakei and rejected, either prior to commissioning or shortly after, and then to see where these rejected technologies have gone since. Amongst these were binary cycle technology, a heavy water distillation plant, mechanical gas extraction, centralised multiflash systems and simple methods for phase separation.