Hybrid Cooling for Geothermal Power Plants: Final ARRA Project Report

Technical Report · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1086347· OSTI ID:1086347

Bharathan, D.

Many binary-cycle geothermal plants use air as the heat rejection medium. Usually this is accomplished by using an air-cooled condenser (ACC) system to condense the vapor of the working fluid in the cycle. Many air-cooled plants suffer a loss of production capacity of up to 50% during times of high ambient temperatures. Use of limited amounts of water to supplement the performance of ACCs is investigated. Deluge cooling is found to be one of the least-cost options. Limiting the use of water in such an application to less than one thousand operating hours per year can boost plant output during critical high-demand periods while minimizing water use in binary-cycle geothermal power plants.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Geothermal Technologies Program
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1086347
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-5500-58024
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
AIR-COOLED CONDENSERS
POWER PLANT COOLING
BINARY-CYCLE
FINNED-TUBE
HEAT TRANSFER
NEVADA
ORMAT
Geothermal Energy