Engineering and operation of hot water geothermal power plants

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:7243723

Crane, G K

Today worldwide, a total geothermal electric capacity of approximately 3800 MWe is on-line. Approximately one half of that capacity utilizes two dry steam resources, one in Italy and one in the U.S. In the United States, a total of 1509 MWe of geothermal capacity is on-line; all but 55 MWe or 4 percent of that capacity is from the only confirmed dry steam resource area in the U.S., the Geysers field located north of San Francisco, California. For comparison, the estimated electric potential from known dry steam resources in this country is perhaps 3000 MWe, compared to a 21,000 MW potential for hot water resources. Clearly, if geothermal is to provide a meaningful contribution to the western U.S. energy mix beyond the Geysers, hot water resources must be developed. Data from hot water geothermal plants in operation today are providing important input to the design, operation and maintenance criteria for future plants. Operating results available to date indicate that this generation option can provide reliable, cost effective base load generation for utilities in the western U.S.

• OSTI ID: 7243723
• Report Number(s): CONF-8503249-
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
150801* -- Geothermal Power Plants-- Design & Operation
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
299002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Geothermal-- (-1989)
CAPACITY
COST
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENGINEERING
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOTHERMAL FIELDS
GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANTS
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
GEYSERS GEOTHERMAL FIELD
GLOBAL ASPECTS
HOT-WATER SYSTEMS
HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEMS
NORTH AMERICA
OPERATION
POWER PLANTS
RELIABILITY
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
USA
VAPOR-DOMINATED SYSTEMS