Propery of : Geothermal energy and its advantages (asrmeta.com)

Dry steam power plants

Dry steam power plants use dry steam directly from a geothermal reservoir. The dry steam runs through the electric generator turbine and generates electricity. In order to run dry steam power plants, the temperatures of tghne steam has to be more than 300˚C. Depending on source, dry steam power plants will have 2 options to run.

01. Dry steam non-condensing power plants These are the power plants run directly on steam, but this steam is not condensed and is given out into the atmosphere.

02. Dry steam condensing power plants These power plants run directly on steam as well, but the steam used is condensed and the water is re-injected into the reservoir.

Binary cycle power plants

The binary cycle power plant has a completely different design apart from dry steam and flash steam power plants. The binary cycle power plant employs a different working fluid rather than utilizing the same fluid (water) that is used to transport heat energy from the geothermal site to the power plant.

This working fluid (usually hydrocarbons such as isobutane or pentane or other compounds such as ammonia) has a lower boiling point than water and therefore it turns into steam. These two fluids do not interact with each other and therefore, this type of power plant is relatively safer than the flash steam power plants.

Flash steam power plants

The flash steam power plants working principal is extracting geothermal energy from the reservoir.

In order to operate flash steam power plants need temperature of at around 182˚C . The fluid (water) at higher temperature and pressure is pumped into a reservoir held at the surface of the Earth which has lower pressure.

This low pressure causes the hot liquid/fluid to expand and therefore some of the fluid turns into steam, thus the name “Flash”, as steam is generated in a flash. This hot steam then drives the turbine, which in turn, drives the generator to produce electricity.

There are several types of flash steam power plants based on the way liquid is being seprated on flash stages.

The “single flash” steam power plants have one stage flash steam generation whereas, “double flash” flash steam power plants have two stages of flash steam generation units and therefore, can yield 15-25% more power, and a “triple flash” FSPP has three stages of flash stem generation.

Low carbon energy families:

Reinjection

helps to maintain the pressure level in the reservoir. Another important benefit of reinjection is by continuous flushing of the rock matrix by the cooled water, the recoverable energy from the reservoir substantially increases.

Geothermal power

plants largely release only excess steam, with most plants discharging no air or liquid. This makes geothermal power plants a clean source of electricity and an important contributor to the nation's zero-carbon future.

Geothermal energy

is considered one of the most efficient and sustainable types of energy because it's a clean, reliable, and renewable resource. It uses the heat inside the earth's surface to generate electricity and provide heating and cooling.

Geothermal sources

are a renewable energy and will never deplete. Abundant geothermal energy will be available for as long as the Earth exists. It is a renewable energy source from the heat generated by the earth's internal core and is available 7/24/365.