Geothermal Turbines – a Maintainer’s Perspective

Abstract

The steam turbine is one of the most expensive capital items on geothermal power plants. It has very high ongoing operational maintenance costs, which can be directly linked to the plant availability and profitability. Many of the turbine’s overhaul costs are solely a function of the operation and cannot be avoided, though they can be mitigated. From the authors’ experience, it is those problems arising from the operation of steamfield system that can have a major influence on the turbine performance. These faults can have significant detrimental effects on the operating cost and life of the turbine and by extension, the geothermal station. This work gives a brief overview on geothermal turbine design. It then looks into the primary sources of turbine damage that can arise from missing those established and well-documented concepts in steamfield design.