CLIMATE- AND WEATHER-RELATED FACTORS IN MAIBARARA GEOTHERMAL OPERATIONS

Abstract

Implementing mitigating strategies of energy facilities to anticipated increases in extreme weather events and climate variability requires documenting which climatic factors affect facilities and understanding the process by which they impact specific equipment and operations. Such knowledge is vital if adaptations are to be effective in reducing potential losses in operational disruptions, business continuity and company profitability. In Maibarara, the effects of air temperature, wind patterns, rainfall, thunderstorms, and typhoons on two relatively new generating units – the 20MW Maibarara-1 (M1) commissioned in 2014 and the 12 MW Maibarara-2 (M2) in 2018 – are documented.
Though far from exhaustive, our study shows that increases in air temperature, even when seasonal, have the most direct, continuous, and substantive consequences, especially on their impact on cooling water and condenser performance. Extreme weather events like severe thunderstorms and typhoons also cause disruptions that can be significant but in a far less sustained manner. Moreover, the effects of weather and climatic factors on geothermal operations are mediated by the physical lay-out of the Maibarara project and its general environmental setting.