Improving Well Power Output Using Modular Geothermal Power Plants

The geothermal energy is an expensive thermal energy due to many uncertainties and high costs on the resource development. The higher the geothermal well power output, the relatively lower the geothermal resource development cost. The geothermal well power output should be maximized and the low-pressure wasted wells or idling wells should be avoided or eliminated. Kaishan Group have developed the following four types of modular geothermal power plants: steam screw expander modular power plants, steam ORC modular power plants, brine ORC modular power plants and steam & brine dual resource modular power plants, all of which have been installed and have been operating in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The modular power plants have the maximum flexibility to be used to form various hybrid thermal cycles, then to maximize the well power output and to utilize the geothermal wells of various enthalpy levels. Due to the hybrid thermal systems formed by the modular power plants the well power output can be improved significantly, and the low pressure wasted wells or idling wells can be eliminated or avoided. The steam injectors and vacuum pumps required by traditional centralized power plants are not required anymore, so that the steam used for the steam injectors can be used to generate more power, and the elimination of the vacuum pumps results in less parasitic power consumption and higher operation reliability. The modular geothermal power plants can be installed on or near well pads, so that the steam collection losses, such as the steam pipeline pressure loss, the brine line thermal loss and the well head pressure flash loss etc., can be minimized, so that the well power output can be maximized. In addition, the geothermal modular power plants also make it possible to develop a geothermal field in multi and smaller phases and can bring each phase to COD in a much short term and more economically, thus the initial investment cost can be reduced significantly and the payback term will be much shorter.