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Title: Hybrid Cooling for Geothermal Power Plants: Final ARRA Project Report

Abstract

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.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Geothermal Technologies Program
OSTI Identifier:
1086347
Report Number(s):
NREL/TP-5500-58024
DOE Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; AIR-COOLED CONDENSERS; POWER PLANT COOLING; BINARY-CYCLE; FINNED-TUBE; HEAT TRANSFER; NEVADA; ORMAT; Geothermal Energy

Citation Formats

Bharathan, D. Hybrid Cooling for Geothermal Power Plants: Final ARRA Project Report. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.2172/1086347.
Bharathan, D. Hybrid Cooling for Geothermal Power Plants: Final ARRA Project Report. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1086347
Bharathan, D. 2013. "Hybrid Cooling for Geothermal Power Plants: Final ARRA Project Report". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1086347. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1086347.
@article{osti_1086347,
title = {Hybrid Cooling for Geothermal Power Plants: Final ARRA Project Report},
author = {Bharathan, D.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.2172/1086347},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1086347}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}