GEOTHERMAL PLANT SYSTEMS

Prof. Kant Kanyarusoke (KK)

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY AND ITS ORIGINS
 GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS

POWER GENERATION HEAT PUMPING

 EXAMPLES OF GEOTHERMAL SITES IN UGANDA
Potential: 1.5 GW at 24 sites: Target 100 MW by 2025 at US$ 42 Mn
Major sites –
• Kibiro, Panyimur in Bunyoro region
• Buranga, Rwagimba, Mubuku, Muhokya,
Katwe in Rwenzori region
• Birara, Rubabo, Kisizi, Ihimbo, Kiruruma,
Kanungu, Kagamba in Kigezi region
• Kitagata in Ankole region

Minor sites –
• Arwa in West Nile
• Amor pi, Keyo Amuro, Kojon in Acholi
• Nangarok in Karamoja
• Katabok in Sebei
 BASICS OF A STEAM POWER PLANT
CHIMNEY/STACK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChvI2v85fsU
FLUE GASES OUT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdPTuwKEfmA

AIR PRE COMBUSTION AIR SUPPLY

HEATER SUPERHEATED HIGH
ECONOMISER PRESSURE STEAM

POWER LINES

COOLING TOWER
SUPER HEATER

ELECTRIC
TURBINE GENERATOR

BOILER LOW PRESSURE STEAM

WARM WATER OUT
PUMP
FUEL
CONDENSER
BURNER COOLING WATER SUPPLY

BOILER MAKE UP WATER CONDENSER MAKE UP

FUEL SUPPLY
SUPPLY WATER SUPPLY
 GEOTHERMAL ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
THREE TYPES:
1. Dry steam: Geo fluid is at
temperatures above 350°C; steam is
cleaned and passed to turbine, then
condensed and water pumped back
to cold well.
2. Flash steam: Common – Wet steam
at temperatures 180-350°C is
flashed in separator; low pressure
steam runs turbine and is then
condensed and sent back to cold
well.
3. Binary plant: Geo water is at temps
below 180°C. It is pumped to heat
exchanger which heats up Butane or
Pentane to raise vapour that runs
turbine in a closed cycle. Cold water
returns to cold well.
THE KENYA GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANTS
Present installed capacity 729 MW out of 10 GW potential. To raise
capacity to 5.53 GW by 2030.

The Olkaria II Geothermal power plant

 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY BASICS
• Uses the earth as an energy reservoir – ie either as source or as
sink
• To be used as source, three requirements are: a nearby source of
heat in the rocks; a source of water and permeable rocks.
• If ground water and permeability are a problem, cold water can be
sourced outside and pumped into the hot rock to fracture it and let
steam rise up
• The area just over 2.5 -3 m below the surface keeps at an
approximately constant temperature around 10 oC below peak
ambient temperatures. Thus in hot weather, the ground can be used
as a heat sink for refrigeration systems while in cold weather, it
could be used as a heat source for house warming
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INDICATIVE POWER GENERATION POTENTIAL
FROM GEOTHERMAL RESOURCES
1 Tonne Geothermal fluid Electric energy generation Plant type
capacity (kWh)
Liquid H2O at 140oC 7.3 Binary

Liquid H2O at 177oC 12.3 Single –Flash steam

Liquid H2O at 204oC 22.9 Double flash steam
Liquid H2O at 232oC 32.0 Double flash steam
Steam at 177oC 117.7 Dry steam

Qu. 2.8: Compute the overall thermal efficiencies of these plants. Also, estimate the geothermal
fluid requirements for generating 400 MW of power
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GEOTHERMAL POWER PLANT CYCLES

APT3 wk2 sem1, 2011 10

 RENEWABILITY & SUSTAINABILITY OF GEOTHERMAL
PLANTS
• Renewable because approximately equal amount of water withdrawn is returned to earth for
most plants. However, less energy is returned which might cause cooling of the earth if very
many plants are installed around the world.
• Sustainable because usage of the resource does not affect how the future generations will use
other depletable resources, and because the resource is vast (100 Billion times the world’s
annual energy consumption)
• Air Pollution – limited CO2 , H2S, CH4, and NH3 emissions from the gases dissolved or
released by the wells. CO2 emission is at 122 kg/MWh production which is minute.
• Water pollution – Some Arsenic, Sb, B, Hg can be deposited during purification of steam
though remnant water is usually re injected to earth.
• Fresh water usage – very small 20 L/MWh against 1000 L/MWh for fossil fuel and Nuclear
plants
• Land acreage – 3.5 km2/GW against 32 for Fossil fuels and 12 for wind farms
• Land stability – Earthquakes, land subsidence and land uplifts in some cases.
 SOME TRIAL PROBLEMS
1. A dry steam geo-source can supply 15 bar superheated steam at 360°C. If the returned condensate is saturated at 5 bar
pressure, find:
a) The temperature of the steam at outlet of an isentropic turbine
b) The temperature of the steam at outlet of a real turbine of 85% isentropic efficiency
c) The steam supply rate to the real turbine for generation of 500 kW of power from a 90% efficient electric generator
d) The rate of heat loss in the condenser for part c) above
e) The rate of supply of condensate water supplied at 20°C, and exiting at 32°C.
2. A flash steam geothermal plant supplies 85% quality steam at 200°C , which then separates into dry steam and water. The
steam part is then expanded to 5 bar before entering the turbine.
a) At what temperature does the steam enter the turbine?
b) Is it wet/dry/superheated on entry into the turbine?
c) From b) explain why it was necessary to expand the steam.
d) Assuming the turbine to be isentropic, determine the condenser pressure of the plant if problems alluded to in c) are to be
avoided even at exit of the turbine.
e) Now consider that the turbine has an isentropic efficiency of 82% under these conditions. Determine the temperature at exit
of the turbine if the condenser pressure is as in d).
f) The well water separated from the steam is used in some heating processes and its pressure reduced so that it can mix with
condensate water before being reinjected into the ground in a saturated state. For a 1 Tonne per hour steam turbine
capacity, compute: i) the water separating out ii) the flowrate from the well iii) the rate of heating from the water iv) the
power generated by an 85% efficient generator v) the net rate of total energy extraction from the geo-well.
 SOME TRIAL PROBLEMS CONTD.
3. A binary cycle Geothermal plant uses Iso Butane as the secondary fluid in a heat exchanger receiving geo-well water at 3 bar,
90°C. Iso butane enters the turbine at 7 bar pressure, 60°C and leaves at 10°C after approximate isentropic expansion. It is then
condensed by a recirculating glycol – water solution and subcooled to -5°C. Determine:
a) The condenser pressure, and hence the plant turbine pressure ratio
b) The iso-butane flow rate required to produce 10 kW electricity from a 87% generator
c) The glycol flow rate if it enters the condenser at -13°C and leaves at 5°C. (Take cp-glycol = kJ/kg.K).