Edison's Geothermal Program - 1980 Update
In 1975, negotiations were initiated with two major resource developers toward initiating power plant projects at three of the Imperial Valley resource areas, Brawley, Salton Sea and Heber. The projects at Brawley and Salton Sea are substantially different from that at Heber in objective, size and design. The reasons for these differences are related to the different nature of the geothermal brines and to different operating philosophies of the resource developers involved. The projects at Brawley and Salton Sea include the construction and operation by Edison of 10 MW (gross) units. The contracts with the field developer for these resources are such that Edison will purchase steam. It is, therefore, the developer's responsibility to drill and complete the geothermal production and injection wells, and to construct and operate the steam separators and flash vessels, brine processing equipment, injection pumps, and steam scrubbing equipment. These units are 10 MW rather than 50 to 100 MW due to the technical risks associated with producing, handling and injecting the very high salinity brines at these locations. In addition, the reliability of turbine operation with relatively impure steam is a major concern. The Heber plant, on the other hand, will utilize a much cleaner resource. The technical risk is, therefore, judged to be substantially lower. The plant at Heber will be a commercial 45 MW unit. Edison will buy brine, and will own and operate all of the brine handling equipment except for the wells and collection manifolds.
- Research Organization:
- Southern California Edison Company, Rosemead, CA
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 892103
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TC-80-907-22
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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