Geothermal power stations have their own unique developmental, operational, technical, and environ­mental problems. Many geothermal resources occur in or near national parks or remote uninhabitable locations because they are normally associated with volcanoes and have beautiful surface manifestations and so become public reserves and tourism hot spots. Most of these geothermal resources do not get […]

The total installed geothermal power generating capacity in the world is approximately 9000 MWe from 21 countries, with the United States leading at nearly 3000 MWe and The Philippines with nearly 2000 MWe (Table II). Other major countries are Italy, Mexico, Indonesia, Japan, and New Zealand, with between 400 and 800 MWe each. Geothermal power […]

A geothermal silencer is like a separator operating at atmospheric pressure. It is normally connected directly to a well and a separation plant for bypass or emergency discharge. The silencer reduces the high – frequency noise discharging from an open pipe to a low-frequency rumbling noise that is more bearable to human ears. The earlier […]

Although sometimes a flasher is differentiated from a separator, the two are the same pressure vessel in practice. A flasher allows high-pressure geothermal water to flash at a lower pressure. In practice, the lower pressure is achieved by a throttling orifice or valve upstream of the flasher/separator. The vessel then separates the two phases by […]

The use of a geothermal resource depends entirely on the output from the wells. A well’s output can vary significantly from that of a typical well (Fig. 10). An example is the cycling wells that have fluctuating mass output with a cycle time as short as a few minutes. This type of well is not […]

Geothermal wells need to undergo a test program before they are used. This is so that the baseline conditions of both the wells and the geothermal aquifers that they tap can be determined. This baseline data are critical because all future informa­tion is compared against them. After drilling has been completed and before the initial […]

Geothermal drilling technology is adapted from the oil industry. Most of the geothermal wells are drilled with a rotary-type drilling rig. Because of the hard, abrasive, and high-temperature volcanic rocks of geothermal systems, the drilling bits require hard abrasive resistant teeth such as diamond or tungsten carbide. Hence, geothermal drilling is an expensive activity in […]

Hot water systems are the most common geothermal systems suitable for power generation. In a hot water system, both the liquid and steam phases appear at the wellhead because the water flashes as it ascends the wells. The dryness fraction at the wellheads is normally less than 0.3. Depending on the wellhead pressures, the power […]