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Renewable Energy Systems pp 818–923Cite as

Geothermal Power Conversion Technology

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Definition of Geothermal Power Conversion Technology

Geothermal Power Conversion Technology refers to techniques used for the conversion of the heat content of geothermal fluid into mechanical power in order to drive a generator and produce electric power.

The first 1/4 HP reciprocating steam engine unit was installed in 1904 by Prince Piero Ginori Conti in the Larderello geothermal field in Italy. Prior to World War II, there were already 136.8 MW of capacity installed in Larderello area. After the war more wells were drilled and modern power stations were installed in the area. As of December 2009, the current operator, ENEL, had 842 MW of installed geothermal power capacity in the Tuscany area.

The first steam engine–driven generator of 35 kW was installed in the USA in 1921 in The Geysers of California. Only in the 1950s, the region was further developed and today 900 MW are produced in this area.

In Japan, surveys began in 1918 with the first experimental generator installed on...

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Abbreviations

Ambient:

Natural condition of the environment at any given time.

Baseload:

The lowest level of power production needs during a season or year.

Baseload plants:

Electricity-generating units that are operated to meet the constant or minimum load on the system. The cost of energy from such units is usually the lowest available to the system.

Binary-cycle power station:

A geothermal electricity-generating station employing a closed-loop heat exchange system in which the heat of the geothermal fluid (the “primary fluid”) is transferred to a different fluid (“motive,” “secondary,” or “working” fluid), which is thereby vaporized and used to drive a turbine/generator set.

Bi-phase expander:

A bi-phase expander or bi-phase turbine is a device that produces power by utilizing the energy of two-phase (liquid/vapor) streams. The total energy produced by the brine and the separated steam (in a reduced condition), is expected to be higher than that of the steam turbine alone.

Brine:

A geothermal solution containing appreciable amounts of sodium chloride or other salts.

Capacity factor:

A percentage that tells how much of a power station's capacity is used over time. For example, typical station capacity factors range as high as 80% for geothermal and 70% for cogeneration.

Capacity, installed (or Nameplate):

The total manufacturer-rated capacities of equipment such as turbines, generators, condensers, transformers, and other system components.

Capacity:

The amount of electric power delivered or required for which a generator, turbine, transformer, transmission circuit, station, or system is rated by the manufacturer.

Carbon dioxide:

A colorless, odorless, nonpoisonous gas that is a normal part of the air. Carbon dioxide, also called CO2, is exhaled by humans and animals and is absorbed by green growing things and by the sea.

CHP:

Combined heat and power

Condensate:

Liquid formed by condensation of vapor.

Cooling tower:

A structure in which process heat is removed to the atmosphere.

Cost:

The amount paid to acquire resources, such as station and equipment, fuel, or labor services.

Demand:

The level at which electricity or natural gas is delivered to users at a given point in time. Electric demand is expressed in kilowatts.

Direct use:

Use of geothermal heat without first converting it to electricity, such as for space heating and cooling, food preparation, industrial processes, etc.

Dispatch:

The operating control of an integrated electric system to assign generation to specific generating stations and other sources of supply to effect the most reliable and economical supply as the total of the significant area loads rise or fall. Control operations and maintenance of high-voltage lines, substations and equipment, including administration of safety procedures. Operate the interconnection. Schedule energy transactions with other interconnected electric utilities.

Drift eliminator:

Drift eliminators reduce the amount of drift in the exiting air flow. Drift droplets can be reduced to less than 0.1% by effective use of an eliminator.

Drift:

Drift droplets are any water droplets and dissolved and suspended solids that are entrained in the air and emitted from the cooling tower stack.

Dry steam:

Very hot steam that does not occur with liquid.

Efficiency:

The ratio of the useful energy delivered by a dynamic system (such as a machine, engine, or motor) to the energy supplied to it over the same period or cycle of operation. The ratio is usually determined under specific test conditions.

Effluent:

Treated wastewater.

EGS:

Engineered geothermal systems

Emissions standard:

The maximum amount of a pollutant legally permitted to be discharged from a single source.

Energy efficiency:

Refers to programs that are aimed at reducing the energy used by specific end-use devices and systems, typically without affecting the services provided. These programs reduce overall electricity consumption (reported in megawatt-hours), often without explicit consideration for the timing of program-induced savings. Such savings are generally achieved by substituting technically more advanced equipment to produce the same level of end-use services (lighting, heating, and motor drive) with less electricity. Examples include high-efficiency appliances, efficient lighting programs, high-efficiency heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems or control modifications, efficient building design, advanced electric motor drives, and heat recovery systems.

Energy source:

The primary source that provides the power that is converted to electricity through chemical, mechanical, or other means. Energy sources include coal, petroleum and petroleum products, gas, water, uranium, wind, sunlight, and geothermal and other sources.

Energy:

The capacity for doing work as measured by the capability of doing work (potential energy) or the conversion of this capability to motion (kinetic energy). Energy has several forms, some of which are easily convertible and can be changed to another form useful for work. Most of the world’s convertible energy comes from fossil fuels that are burned to produce heat that is then used as a transfer medium to mechanical or other means in order to accomplish tasks. Electrical energy is usually measured in kilowatt-hours, while heat energy is usually measured in British thermal units.

Facility:

An existing or planned location or site at which prime movers, electric generators, and/or equipment for converting heat into electric energy are situated, or will be situated. A facility may contain more than one generator of either the same or different prime mover type.

Fault:

A fracture or fracture zone in the Earth’s crust along which slippage of adjacent Earth material has occurred at some time.

Flash steam:

Steam produced when the pressure on a geothermal liquid is reduced. Also called flashing.

Flash tank:

Vessel in which the geothermal water or brine is flashed into steam by pressure reduction.

Fly ash:

Particulate matter from coal ash in which the particle diameter is less than 1 × 10−4 m. This is removed from the flue gas using flue gas particulate collectors such as fabric filters and electrostatic precipitators.

Generation (electricity):

The process of producing electric energy by transforming other forms of energy also, the amount of electric energy produced, expressed in watt-hours (Wh).

Generator:

A machine that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.

Geology:

Study of the planet Earth, its composition, structure, natural processes, and history.

Geothermal combined cycle:

An electricity-generating technology in which electricity is produced from the steam exiting from one or more steam turbines at above atmospheric pressure. The exiting steam routed to the evaporator of an ORC station producing electricity. This process reduces the impact of non-condensable gases in the geothermal steam and eliminates the power consumption of the vacuum pumps or ejectors (updated using various sources).

Geothermal energy:

Natural heat from within the Earth, captured for production of electric power, space (geofluid) heating or industrial steam.

Geothermal fluid:

Can be steam, water, brine or a mixture of two, may contain noncondensable gases (CO2, H2S) and in case of brine, appreciable amounts of sodium chloride, carbonates, and silica.

Geothermal heat pumps:

Devices that take advantage of the relatively constant temperature of the Earth’s interior, using it as a source and sink of heat for both heating and cooling. When cooling, heat is extracted from the space and dissipated into the Earth when heating, heat is extracted from the Earth and pumped into the space.

Geothermal power station:

A power station in which the prime movers are turbines operated either by steam or organic fluids vapor. The steam is either natural or produced from flashing of hot water. The organic fluid vapor is produced by boiling of the organic fluid using geothermal steam or water. The natural steam and water derive energy from heat found in rocks or fluids at various depths beneath the surface of the Earth. The energy is extracted by drilling and/or pumping. It includes all the surface facilities including the geothermal fluid gathering and treatment system, but does not include the geothermal wells and pumps.

Geothermal steam:

Steam drawn from deep within the Earth.

Geothermal:

Of or relating to the Earth’s interior heat.

Geyser:

A spring mat that shoots jets of hot water and steam into the air.

Geysers, The:

A large geothermal steam field located approximately 75 miles (121 km) north of the city of San Francisco, California.

Gigawatt (GW):

One billion watts.

Gigawatt-hour (GWh):

One billion watt-hours.

Greenhouse effect:

The increasing mean global surface temperature of the Earth caused by gases in the atmosphere (including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and chlorofluorocarbon). The greenhouse effect allows solar radiation to penetrate but absorbs the infrared radiation returning to space.

Grid:

The layout of an electrical distribution system.

Heat exchanger:

A device for transferring thermal energy from one fluid to another.

Hot dry rock (HDR):

A geothermal resource created with impermeable, subsurface hot rock structures, typically granite rock below the Earth’s surface. The resource is being investigated as a source of energy production.

Hybrid geothermal cycles:

Cycles in which there are in series or in parallel a steam Rankine cycle and an Organic Rankine cycle.

Hybrid geothermal power stations:

Stations in which the geothermal heat is supplemented by another heat source.

Hydrothermal resource:

Underground systems of hot water and/or steam.

Injection:

The process of returning spent geothermal fluids to the subsurface. Sometimes referred to as reinjection.

Kilowatt (kW):

One thousand watts.

Kilowatt-hour (kWh):

One thousand watt-hours.

Known geothermal resource area:

A region identified by the US Geological Survey as containing geothermal resources.

Leaching:

The removal of readily soluble components, such as chlorides, sulfates, organic matter, and carbonates, from soil by percolating water. The remaining upper layer of leached soil becomes increasingly acidic and deficient in plant nutrients.

Load (electric):

The amount of electric power delivered or required at any specific point or points on a system. The requirement originates at the energy-consuming equipment of the consumers.

Magma:

The molten rock and elements that lie below the Earth’s crust. The heat energy can approach 550°C and is generated directly from a shallow molten magma resource and stored in adjacent rock structures. To extract energy from magma resources requires drilling near or directly into a magma chamber and circulating water down the well in a convection-type system.

Megawatt (MW):

One thousand kilowatts (1,000 kW) or one million watts (1,000,000 W).

Megawatt-hour (MWh):

One million watt-hours.

Muffler:

It is a device for reducing noise of high-speed steam flow in emergency relief of high-pressure steam from the production well (PW) in the power station. In geothermal applications it not only acts as a silencer but also performs safety and environmental duties. This is because of the high temperature and high salinity of the steam and brine that is released to the atmosphere in case of turbine trip-off or system emergency shutdown.

Noncondensable gases (NCG):

Gases present in the steam or dissolved in the brine and liberated in the flash process.

Ormat energy converter (OEC):

A unit using Ormat's Organic Rankine Cycle technology, which converts geothermal heat to electric power.

ORC power station:

A power station operating according to the ORC process.

Organic Rankine cycle (ORC):

A Rankine cycle using an organic fluid (updated using various sources).

Outage:

The period during which a generating unit, transmission line, or other facility is out of service.

Particulate matter (PM):

Unburned fuel particles that form smoke or soot and stick to lung tissue when inhaled. A chief component of exhaust emissions from heavy-duty diesel engines

pH:

The term pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity and ranges from 0 to 14. A pH measurement of 7 is regarded as neutral. Measurements below 7 indicate increased acidity, while those above indicate increased alkalinity.

Point source:

A stationary location or fixed facility from which pollutants are discharged.

Power plant:

A power station.

Power station:

A facility at which prime movers electric generators, and auxiliary equipment are located, for converting mechanical, chemical, and/or nuclear energy into electric energy. A station may contain more than one type of prime mover.

Power:

Electricity for use as energy.

Precipitation:

Precipitation is the formation of a solid in a solution. The solid formed is called the precipitate, and the liquid remaining above the solid is called the supernate.

Price:

The amount of money or consideration-in-kind for which a service is bought, sold, or offered for sale.

Purifier:

Vessel at the turbine in which fine droplets are separated from the vapor.

Regulation:

The governmental function of controlling or directing economic entities through the process of rulemaking and adjudication.

Reliability:

Electric system reliability has two components adequacy and security. Adequacy is the ability of the electric system to supply to aggregate electrical demand and energy requirements of the customers at all times, taking into account scheduled and unscheduled outages of system facilities. Security is the ability of the electric system to withstand sudden disturbances, such as electric short circuits or unanticipated loss of system facilities. The degree of reliability may be measured by the frequency, duration, and magnitude of adverse effects on consumer services.

Renewable energy:

Resources that constantly renew themselves or that are regarded as practically inexhaustible. These include solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and wood. Although particular geothermal formations can be depleted, the natural heat in the Earth is a virtually inexhaustible reserve of potential energy. Renewable resources also include some experimental or less-developed sources such as tidal power, sea currents, and ocean thermal gradients.

Renewable resources:

Natural but flow-limited resources that can be replenished. They are virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time. Some (such as geothermal and biomass) may be stock-limited in that stocks are depleted by use, but on a time scale of decades, or perhaps centuries, they can probably be replenished. Renewable energy resources include: biomass, hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind. In the future, they could also include the use of ocean thermal, wave, and tidal action technologies. Utility renewable resource applications include bulk electricity generation, on-site electricity generation, distributed electricity generation, non-grid-connected generation, and demand-reduction (energy efficiency) technologies.

Reservoir:

A natural underground container of liquids, such as water or steam (or, in the petroleum context, oil or gas).

Revenue:

The total amount of money received by a firm from sales of its products and/or services, gains from the sales or exchange of assets, interest and dividends earned on investments, and other increases in the owner’s equity except those arising from capital adjustments.

Saturation:

Saturation is the point at which a solution of a substance can dissolve no more of that substance and additional amounts of it will appear as a precipitate. This point of maximum concentration, the saturation point, depends on the temperature of the liquid as well as the chemical nature of the substances involved.

Scaling:

Scaling is formation of a deposit layer (scale) on a solid surface, i.e., evaporators, pipes, etc.

Screw expander:

The screw expander is the reverse usage of a screw compressor consisting of two helical rotating wheels compressing gas in between them. When high-pressure gas is introduced to the compressor exit, it expands forcing the screw wheels to rotate backward and produce power.

Scrubber:

Equipment used to remove sulfur oxides or hydrogen sulfide from the geothermal fluid before discharge to the atmosphere. Chemicals, such as lime, are used as the scrubbing media. The scrubber is also used when fresh water is applied to saline-contaminated steam. The scrubber reduces the steam salinity before it enters the turbine.

Separator:

A vessel at the wellhead where steam is separated from water or brine. Mostly of centrifugal type.

Solubility:

Solubility is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance called solute to dissolve in a liquid solvent to form a homogeneous solution of the solute in the solvent. The solubility of a substance fundamentally depends on the used solvent as well as on temperature and pressure.

Stability:

The property of a system or element by virtue of which its output will ultimately attain a steady state. The amount of power that can be transferred from one machine to another following a disturbance. The stability of a power system is its ability to develop restoring forces equal to or greater than the disturbing forces so as to maintain a state of equilibrium.

Steam Rankine cycle:

A Rankine cycle in which water (in liquid and vapor phase) is the motive fluid (updated using various sources).

System (electric):

Physically connected generation, transmission, and distribution facilities operated as an integrated unit under one central management, or operating supervision.

System:

A combination of equipment and/or controls, accessories, interconnecting means, and terminal elements by which energy is transformed to perform a specific function, such as climate control, service water heating, or lighting.

Thermal pollution:

A reduction in water quality caused by increasing its temperature, often due to disposal of waste heat from industrial, power generation processes, or urban impervious surfaces (such as parking lots). Thermally polluted water can harm the environment because plants and animals may have difficulty adapting to it.

Transmission:

The movement or transfer of electric energy over an interconnected group of lines and associated equipment between points of supply and points at which it is transformed for delivery to consumers, or is delivered to other electric systems. Transmission is considered to end when the energy is transformed for distribution to the consumer.

Turbine generator:

A device that uses steam, organic vapor, heated gases, water flow or wind to cause spinning motion that activates electromagnetic forces and generates electricity (updated using various sources).

Turbine:

A machine for generating rotary mechanical power from the energy of expansion of a stream of fluid (such as water, steam, organic vapor, or hot gas). Turbines convert the kinetic energy of fluids to mechanical energy through the principles of impulse and reaction, or a mixture of the two (updated using various sources).

Utility:

A regulated entity which exhibits the characteristics of a natural monopoly. For the purposes of electric industry restructuring, “utility” refers to the regulated, vertically integrated electric company. “Transmission utility” refers to the regulated owner/operator of the transmission system only. “Distribution utility” refers to the regulated owner/operator of the distribution system which serves retail customers.

Vapor(or steam)-dominated resources:

A geothermal reservoir system in which subsurface pressures are controlled by vapor rather than liquid and most of the flow is steam.

Water-dominated resource:

A resource where the major part of the mass flow is water or brine.

Watt:

The electrical unit of power. The rate of energy transfer equivalent to 1 A flowing under a pressure of 1 V at unity power factor.

Watt-hour (Wh):

An electrical energy unit of measure equal to 1 W of power supplied to, or taken from, an electric circuit steadily for 1 h.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge with appreciation the valuable contributions of Dr. Uriyel Fisher and Mr. Mike Kanowitz in preparation and typing of the manuscript as well as for the special attention to accuracy and detail.

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  1. Ormat Technologies, Inc., 6225 Neil Road, Reno, NV, 89511-1136, USA

    Lucien Y. Bronicki

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  1. Lucien Y. Bronicki
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Correspondence to Lucien Y. Bronicki .

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  1. German Biomass Research Centre, Leipzig, Germany

    Martin Kaltschmitt

  2. Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Hamburg University of Technology, Hamburg, Germany

    Martin Kaltschmitt

  3. Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Nickolas J. Themelis

  4. Ormat Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, USA

    Lucien Y. Bronicki

  5. Royal Institute of Technology, Electric Power Systems, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lennart Söder

  6. Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, School of Ocean And Earth Science And Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Luis A. Vega

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Bronicki, L.Y. (2013). Geothermal Power Conversion Technology . In: Kaltschmitt, M., Themelis, N.J., Bronicki, L.Y., Söder, L., Vega, L.A. (eds) Renewable Energy Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5820-3_233

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