Geothermal Resource Sustainability Through Innovative Air Cooled Combined Cycle Hybrids
- Key words
- Geothermal combined cycle; geothermal steam condensing; air cooled binary; ORC cycle; reduced or zero emissions; zero water consumption; zero emission; risk mitigation
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 2011
- Session
- Power plant design and operation; Binary cycle power generat
- Language
- English
Abstract
For existing and future geothermal plants to remain viable, geothermal resource and water usage, environmental, and cost challenges need to be addressed. The system outlined within this paper spearhead these issues while at the same time increasing the efficiency of the overall geothermal plant and maintaining a competitive levelized cost of electricity (LCoE). This paper identifies many of these issues and offers geothermal developers cost effective and flexible design solutions, while simultaneously mitigating the risks. This innovative approach will have less environmental impact than current geothermal conversion technology, a higher brine utilization rate yielding more net electrical output per gallon of produced fluid, and incorporates the strategy of returning 100% of extracted fluid to the reservoir, reducing or eliminating associated resource decline, and risk due to heat rejection recirculation.
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