 Alternative Energy Sources/Renewable Energy

 Overview of Tidal Generation

-Tides
-Basic methods of generating electricity from
tides
-Geography
-Pros/Cons
-Environmental concerns
 Different types of tidal generators
-Tidal fence
-Tidal lagoons
-Tidal turbines
 Use of any given energy source in human society
encounters limits to expansion. At the beginning of the
21st century some issues have achieved global
dimension. Principal fossil energy sources, such as oil
and natural gas are approaching exhaustion that may
occur within the span of a generation
 Closely linked to energy development are concerns
about the environmental effects of fossil fuel energy
use, such as global warming, and health issues due to
air pollution. Energy development issues are part of the
much debated sustainable development problem.
 Canada and the United States have incredibly high
energy consumption per capita
 Need to move away from fossil fuels

 Need safe and clean energy sources that

don’t create significant amounts of waste.

 Renewable Energy Sources offer this.

 Renewable energy sources capture their energy
from existing flows of energy, from on-going
natural processes, such as sunshine, wind,
flowing water (hydropower), biological
processes, and geothermal heat flows.
 Renewable energy is from an energy resource
that is replaced rapidly by a natural process
such as power generated from the sun or from
the wind.
 Examples of Renewable Energy Sources:

Solar Hydroelectric
Wind

And....
 Tidal power generators derive their energy from
movement of the tides.
 Has potential for generation of very large amounts
of electricity, or can be used in smaller scale.
 Tidal power is not a new concept and has been used
since at least the 11th Century in Britain and France
for the milling of grains.
 There are a number of places around the world that
have adopted pilot projects for different types of
tidal generators
Station Capacity (MW) Country

Tidal Lagoon
320 United Kingdom
Swansea Bay

Dalupiri Blue
2,200 Philippines
Energy Project
Gulf of Kutch
50 India
Project

Alderney tidal plant 300 Alderney

 Tidal power utilizes the twice-daily variation in
sea level caused primarily by the gravitational
effect of the Moon and, to a lesser extent the
Sun on the world's oceans. The Earth's rotation
is also a factor in the production of tides.
 The interaction of the Moon and the Earth
results in the oceans bulging out towards the
Moon (Lunar Tide). The sun’s gravitational field
pulls as well (Solar Tide)
 As the Sun and Moon are not in fixed positions
in the celestial sphere, but change position with
respect to each other, their influence on the tidal
range (difference between low and high tide) is
also effected.
 If the Moon and the Sun are in the same plane as
the Earth, the tidal range is the superposition of
the range due to the lunar and solar tides. This
results in the maximum tidal range (spring
tides). If they are at right angles to each other,
lower tidal differences are experienced resulting
in neap tides.
 As usual, the electricity is provided by spinning turbines.

 Two types of tidal energy can be extracted: kinetic energy

of currents between ebbing and surging tides and potential
energy from the difference in height (or head) between
high and low tides.

 The potential energy contained in a volume of water is

E = xMg
where x is the height of the tide, M is the mass of water
and g is the acceleration due to gravity.

 Therefore, a tidal energy generator must be placed in a

location with very high-amplitude tides. Suitable locations
are found in the former USSR, USA, Canada, Australia,
Korea, the UK and other countries
 The generation of electricity from tides is very similar to
hydroelectric generation, except that water is able to flow in
both directions and this must be taken into account in the
development of the generators.
 The simplest generating system for tidal plants, known as
an ebb generating system, involves a dam, known as a
barrage across an estuary.
 Sluice gates on the barrage allow the tidal basin to fill on
the incoming high tides and to exit through the turbine
system on the outgoing tide (known as the ebb tide).
 Alternatively, flood-generating systems, which generate
power from the incoming tide are possible, but are less
favored than ebb generating systems.
 The basin is filled through the
sluices and freewheeling
turbines until high tide. Then the
sluice gates and turbine gates are
closed.
 They are kept closed until the
Estuary
sea level falls to create sufficient
head across the barrage and the
turbines generate until the head
is again low. Then the sluices are
opened, turbines disconnected
and the basin is filled again.
 The cycle repeats itself.
 Ebb generation (also known as
outflow generation) takes its
name because generation occurs
as the tide ebbs. Ebb generating system with a bulb turbine
 •In systems with a bulb turbine, water
flows around the turbine, making access
for maintenance difficult, as the water
must be prevented from flowing past the
turbine.
•Rim turbines reduce these problems as
Bulb Type the generatorRim Type
is mounted in the barrage,
at right angles to the turbine blades.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to regulate
the performance of these turbines and it
is unsuitable for use in pumping.
•Tubular turbines have been proposed
Tubular Type
for use some UK projects. In this
configuration, the blades are connected
to a long shaft and orientated at an angle
so that the generator is sitting on top of
the barrage.
•Gravitational pull of the
sun and moon and the
pull of the centrifugal
force of rotation of the
earth-moon system.

•When a landmass lines up with

the earth-moon system, the
water around it is at high tide.
•When a landmass is at 90 ͦ to
the earth-moon system, the
water around it is at low tide.
• There are two high tides and two low tides during each
period of rotation of the earth.
• Spring and Neap tides depend on the orientation of the
sun, moon, and the earth.

▫ High spring tides occur when the sun and moon line up
with the earth. This occurs whether they are either on
same or opposite side.
▫ Low neap tides occur when the sun and moon line up at
90 ͦ to each other.
• Flood Currents: currents moving in the direction of the
coast.
• Ebb Currents: the current receding from the coast
• Tidal power range -Two types:

• Single basin system-

Ebb generation:
Flood generation:
Two way generation:

◦ Double-basin system:
 (I) Single & Single-effect Scheme The single-basin scheme
has only one basin as shown in Fig. 10.4. in the single-effect
scheme, power is generated either during filling or
emptying the basin.

 Two types of operation cycles are possible. In the ebb

generation, cycle operation, the sluice way is opened to fill
the basin during high tide.

 Once filled, the impounded water is held till the receding

cyclc creates a suitable head. Water is now allowed to flow
through the turbine coupled to the generator till the rising
tide reduces the head to the minimum operating point. The
flow is held till the next generating cycle.
The sequence of events is illustrated in Fig. This cycle is repeated and
power is generated intermittently.
In the flood generation cycle operation, the sequences are altered to
generate power during filling operation of the basin. However, the
sloping nature of the basin shores usually makes ebb generation the
more productive method.
 Tidal power generation can
offer significant
advantages, including
improved transportation
due to the development of
traffic or rail bridges across
estuaries and reduced
greenhouse gas emissions
by utilizing tidal power in
place of fossil fuels.

 However there are also La Rance, France (240MW)

some significant
environmental
disadvantages which make
tidal power, particularly
barrage systems less
attractive than other forms
of renewable energy.
 Tidal Changes
 The construction of a tidal barrage in an estuary will
change the tidal level in the basin.

 This change is difficult to predict, and can result in a

lowering or raising of the tidal level.

 This change will also have a marked effect on the

sedimentation and purity of the water within the basin.

 In addition, navigation and recreation can be affected as

a result of a sea depth change due to increased
sedimentation within the basin.

 A raising of the tidal level could result in the flooding of

the shoreline, which could have an effect on the local
marine food chain.
Ecological Changes

 Potentially the largest disadvantage of tidal power is the effect a tidal

station has on the plants and animals which live within the estuary.

 As very few tidal barrages have been built, very little is understood
about the full impact of tidal power systems on the local environment.
What has been concluded is that the effect due to a tidal barrage is
highly dependent upon the local geography and marine ecosystem.

 Fish may move through sluices safely, but when these are closed, fish
will seek out turbines and attempt to swim through them. Also, some
fish will be unable to escape the water speed near a turbine and will
be sucked through.
 Tidal Fences

 Tidal Lagoons

 Tidal Turbines
 Proposed shortly after the oil crisis of
the 1970s, tidal turbines have only
become reality in the last decade,
when a 10-15kW 'proof of concept'
turbine was operated on Loch Linnhe.
Resembling a wind turbine, tidal
turbines offer significant advantages
over barrage and fence tidal systems,
including reduced environmental
effects.

 Tidal turbines utilize tidal currents

that are moving with velocities of
between 2 and 3 m/s (4 to 6 knots) to
generate between 4 and 13 kW/m2.
Fast moving current (>3 m/s) can
cause undue stress on the blades in a
similar way that very strong gale
force winds can damage traditional
wind turbine generators, whilst lower
velocities are uneconomic.
 Tidal Farms. Sets of up to hundreds
of tidal turbines working in
conjunction.

 Potential for giga-watts of power

 Marine Current Turbine (MCT)
created SeaFlow (300kW), is
following up with SeaGen (1MW),
which will expand to a 5 turbine
tidal farm that will provide 5MW.

 The Norwegian company,

Hammerfest Strom, believes that
they will have their first tidal farm
of over 20 second generation
devices operational before the end
of 2008. This would be the 3rd
phase of their 'Blue Concept'
project and would result in a tidal
farm that would produce 10MW of
renewable electricity.
 Waves are caused by a number of forces, i.e. wind, gravitational pull
from the sun and moon, changes in atmospheric pressure, earthquakes
etc. Waves created by wind are the most common waves. Unequal
heating of the Earth’s surface generates wind, and wind blowing
over water generates waves.
 This energy transfer results in a concentration of the energy involved:
the initial solar power level of about 1 kW/m2 is concentrated to an
average wave power level of 70kW/m of crest length. This figure rises
to an average of 170 kW/m of crest length during the winter, and to
more than 1 MW/m during storms.
 Wave energy performance measures are characterized by diffuse
energy, enormous forces during storms, and variation over wide range
in wave size, length, period, and direction.
Where does wave energy originate?
◦ Differential warming of the earth causes pressure
differences in the atmosphere, which generate
winds
◦ As winds move across the surface of open bodies of
water, they transfer some of their energy to the
water and create waves
The amount of energy transferred and the
size of the resulting wave depend on
◦ the wind speed
◦ the length of time for which the wind blows
◦ the distance over which the wind blows, or fetch

Therefore, coasts that have exposure to the

prevailing wind direction and that face long
expanses of open ocean have the greatest
wave energy levels.
Therefore, devices can be characterized in
terms of their placement or location.
◦ At the shoreline
◦ Near the shoreline
◦ Off-shore

One wave energy conversion system that has proven

successful at each of these locations is the
OSCILLATING WATER COLUMN.
 World Energy Council 2001 Survey stated the "potential exploitable wave
energy" resources worldwide to be 2 TW. For European waters the resource
was estimated to be able to cover more than 50% of the total power
consumption.
 The wave market is estimated at $32 billion in the United Kingdom and $800
billion worldwide.
 The United States has exhibited weak effort compared to overseas projects
in Norway, Denmark, Japan and the United Kingdom.
 As of 1995, 685 kilowatts (kW) of grid-connected wave generating capacity
was operating worldwide. This capacity comes from eight demonstration
plants ranging in size from 350 kW to 20 kW.
 Oscillating Water Columns (OWC)
These devices generate electricity from the wave-driven rise and fall
of water in a cylindrical shaft. The rising and falling water column
drives air into and out of the top of the shaft, powering an air-driven
turbine.
 Floats or Pitching Devices
These devices generate electricity from the bobbing or pitching action
of a floating object. The object can be mounted to a floating raft or to
a device fixed on the ocean floor.
 Wave Surge or Focusing Devices
These shoreline devices, also called "tapered channel" systems, rely
on a shore-mounted structure to channel and concentrate the waves,
driving them into an elevated reservoir. These focusing surge devices
are sizable barriers that channel large waves to increase wave height
for redirection into elevated reservoirs.
An Oscillating Water Column (OWC) consists
of a partially submerged structure that
opens to the ocean below the water surface.
This structure is called a wave collector.

This design creates a water column in the

central chamber of the collector, with a
volume of air trapped above it.
 As a wave enters the collector, the surface of the water
column rises and compresses the volume of air above it.
 The compressed air is forced into an aperture at the top of
the chamber, moving past a turbine.
 As the wave retreats, the air is drawn back through the
turbine due to the reduced pressure in the chamber.

The turning of the turbine drives a generator, producing

electricity!
The type of turbine used is a key element to
the conversion efficiency of an OWC.

Traditional turbines function by gas or liquid

flowing in one direction and at a constant
velocity. When the flow is not always from
the same direction or at a constant velocity
– such as in the OWC – traditional turbines
become ineffective.
To overcome the
problems of
traditional turbines,
LIMPET employs a
Wells turbine that
turns in the same
direction irrespective
of the airflow
direction.
 The Salter Duck, Clam,
Archimedes wave swing, and other
floating wave energy devices
generate electricity through the
harmonic motion of the floating
part of the device. In these
systems, the devices rise and fall
according to the motion of the
wave and electricity is generated
through their motion.
 The Salter Duck is able to produce
energy very efficiently, however its
development was stalled during the
1980s due to a miscalculation in
the cost of energy production by a
factor of 10 and it has only been in
recent years when the technology
was reassessed and the error
identified.
These shoreline systems consist of a tapered channel which feeds
into a reservoir constructed on a cliff. The narrowing of the channel
causes the waves to increase their amplitude (wave height) as they
move towards the cliff face which eventually spills over the walls of
the channel and into the reservoir which is positioned several meters
above mean sea level. The kinetic energy of the moving wave is
converted into potential energy as the water is stored in the
reservoir. The water then passes through hydroelectric turbines on
the way back to sea level thus generating electricity.
 It is a free and renewable energy source
 Wave power devices do not use up large land
masses unlike solar and wind
 These devices are relatively pollution free
 Devices remove energy from the waves, leave
the water in a relatively calm state in their
wakes
 The extraction equipment must operated in a
marine environment with all that implies in terms
of maintenance, construction cost, life time, and
reliability
 Wave energy converters must be capable of
withstanding very severe peak stresses in storms
 Wave energy conversion devices that have been
proposed are relatively complicated
 Economic factors such as the capital investment,
costs of the maintenance, repair and replacement,
as well as problems of biological growth of marine
organisms
 OTEC, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is an energy
technology that converts solar radiation to electric power.
 OTEC systems use the ocean’s natural thermal gradient,
consequently the temperature difference between the warm
surface water and the cold deep water below 600 meters by
about 20⁰C, an OTEC system can produce a significant amount
of power.
 The oceans are thus a vast renewable resource, with the potential
to help us produce billions of watts of electric power.
 The cold seawater used in the OTEC process is also rich in
nutrients and it can be used to culture both marine organisms
and plant life near the shore or on land.
 OTEC, or Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, is an energy
technology that converts solar radiation to electric power.

 OTEC systems use the ocean's natural thermal gradient—the

fact that the ocean's layers of water have different
temperatures—to drive a power-producing cycle.
 Warm water is collected on the surface of the tropical ocean and
pumped by a warm water pump.
 The water is pumped through the boiler, where some of the water is
used to heat the working fluid, usually propane or some similar
material.
 If it is cooler you can use a material with a lower boiling point like
ammonia.
 The propane vapour expands through a turbine which is coupled to a
generator that generating electric power.
 Cold water from the bottom is pumped through the condensers, where
the vapour returns to the liquid state.
 The fluid is pumped back into the boiler. Some small fraction of the
power from the turbine is used to pump the water through the system
and to power other internal operations, but most of it is available as
net power.
 Carnot Efficiency (T1-T2)/T1: in transferring heat to do
work, the greater the spread in temperature between the heat
source and the heat sink, the greater the efficiency of the
energy conversion.
 As long as the temperature between the warm surface water
and the cold deep water differs by about 20°C , an OTEC
system can produce a significant amount of power with a
maximum Carnot Efficiency of about 6.7%
 1. OTEC uses clean, renewable, natural resources. Warm surface
seawater and cold water from the ocean depths replace fossil fuels to
produce electricity.
 2. Suitably designed OTEC plants will produce little or no carbon
dioxide or other polluting chemicals.
 3. OTEC systems can produce fresh water as well as electricity. This
is a significant advantage in island areas where fresh water is limited.
 4. There is enough solar energy received and stored in the warm
tropical ocean surface layer to provide most, if not all, of present
human energy needs.
 5. The use of OTEC as a source of electricity will help reduce the
state's almost complete dependence on imported fossil fuels.
 1. OTEC-produced electricity at present would cost more
than electricity generated from fossil fuels at their current
costs.
 2. OTEC plants must be located where a difference of about
20º C occurs year round. Ocean depths must be available
fairly close to shore-based facilities for economic operation.
Floating plant ships could provide more flexibility.
 3. No energy company will put money in this project
because it only had been tested in a very small scale.
 4. Construction of OTEC plants and lying of pipes in
coastal waters may cause localised damage to reefs and
near-shore marine ecosystems.
 1881: Jacques Arsene d'Arsonval, a French physicist, was the first to
propose tapping the thermal energy of the ocean. Georges Claude, a
student of d'Arsonval's, built an experimental open-cycle OTEC
system at Matanzas Bay, Cuba, in 1930. The system produced 22
kilowatts (kW) of electricity by using a low-pressure turbine.

 In 1935, Claude constructed another open-cycle plant, this time off

the coast of Brazil. But both plants were destroyed by weather and
waves, and Claude never achieved his goal of producing net power
(the remainder after subtracting power needed to run the system) from
an open-cycle OTEC system.

 1956: French researchers designed a 3-megawatt (electric) (MWe)

open-cycle plant for Abidjan on Africa's west coast. But the plant was
never completed because of competition with inexpensive
hydroelectric power.
 1979: The first 50-kilowatt
(kWe) closed-cycle OTEC
demonstration plant went up at
NELHA.

 Known as "Mini-OTEC," the

plant was mounted on a
converted U.S. Navy barge
moored approximately 2
kilometers off Keahole Point.

 The plant used a cold-water

pipe to produce 52 kWe of
gross power and 15 kWe net
power.
Worldmap highlighting oceanic regions with high
temperature gradients (between surface and 1000m
depth
Among ocean energy sources, OTEC is one of the
continuously available renewable energy resources that could
contribute to base-load power supply.
The resource potential for OTEC is considered to be much
larger than for other ocean energy forms [World Energy
Council, 2000].
Up to 88,000 TWh/yr of power could be generated from
OTEC without affecting the ocean’s thermal structure
[Pelc and Fujita, 2002]
 Open-cycle OTEC uses the tropical oceans' warm surface water to
make electricity. When warm seawater is placed in a low-pressure
container, it boils. The expanding steam drives a low-pressure turbine
attached to an electrical generator. The steam, which has left its salt
behind in the low-pressure container, is almost pure fresh water. It is
condensed back into a liquid by exposure to cold temperatures from
deep-ocean water.
 Closed-cycle systems use fluid with a low-boiling point, such as
ammonia, to rotate a turbine to generate electricity.
 Warm surface seawater is pumped through a heat exchanger where
the low-boiling-point fluid is vaporized. The expanding vapor turns
the turbo-generator.
 Then, cold, deep seawater—pumped through a second heat
exchanger—condenses the vapor back into a liquid, which is then
recycled through the system.
Hybrid systems combine the features of both the
closed-cycle and open-cycle systems.
In a hybrid system, warm seawater enters a vacuum
chamber where it is flash-evaporated into steam,
similar to the open-cycle evaporation process.
The steam vaporizes a low-boiling-point fluid (in a
closed-cycle loop) that drives a turbine to produces
electricity.
 Low Environmental Impact
 The distinctive feature of OTEC energy systems is that the end
products include not only energy in the form of electricity, but
several other synergistic products.
 Fresh Water
The first by-product is fresh water. A small 1 MW OTEC is
capable of producing some 4,500 cubic meters of fresh water
per day, enough to supply a population of 20,000 with fresh
water.
 Food
A further by-product is nutrient rich cold water from the deep
ocean. The cold "waste" water from the OTEC is utilised in two
ways. Primarily the cold water is discharged into large
contained ponds, near shore or on land, where the water can be
used for multi-species mariculture (shellfish and shrimp)
producing harvest yields which far surpass naturally occurring
cold water upwelling zones, just like agriculture on land.
1. Land based - Favored locations : narrow shelves
(volcanic islands), steep (15-20 degree) offshore
slopes, and relatively smooth sea floors.

2. Shelf mounted - OTEC plants can be mounted

to the continental shelf at depths up to 100
meters.
A shelf-mounted plant could be built in a
shipyard, towed to the site, and fixed to the sea
bottom.

1. Off shore floating plants

 Energy present as heat (thermal energy) in the earth’s crust
 More readily accessible heat in the uppermost 10 kms
 The average temperature at a depth of 10 km is about 200
degree C
 Hot molten rock called Magma is commonly present at depths
greater than 24 to 40 km.
 In some places because of geological conditions cause the
magma to be pushed upward the surface, in an active volcano
 In United States, the first attempt at developing the Geysers
field was made in 1922. steam was successfully taped, but the
pipes and turbines of the time were unable to cope with the
corrosive and abrasive steam.
 The effort was not revived until 1956
 The first electric generating unit of 11MW capacity began
operation in 1960
 Afterward number of larger units were planned which brought
the total capacity to about 1500MW by late 1980.
 Other electric generating fields are New Zealand, Japan,
Mexico, Philippines, the Soviet Union
 India has reasonably good potential for geothermal; the potential
geothermal provinces can produce 10,600 MW of power
 There are about 340 known thermal areas in India, each
represented by hot/warm spring
 46 of these systems are of high temperature type above 150 ºC,
which could generate 1838MW for a period of 30 years
 59 of these are of intermediate temperature type(90º C to 150ºC),
which could be considered for power generation using binary
vapour cycle and other are of low temperature type below 90ºC
 Till now only one pilot plant is in operation in Puga valley in
Jammu and Kashmir having 20MW capacity
 Another plant is at construction at Parvati valley, Himachal
Pradesh.
 It is convenient to classify earth’s surface into three broad groups:
 1. Non –thermal areas having temperature gradient of 10-40ºC per
km depth
 2. semi thermal areas having a temperature gradient of 70ºC per
km depth
 3. hyper –thermal areas where the temperature gradients are many
times greater than in non-thermal areas. It further classified into
 A) wet fields: where the water is pressurised and temperatures are
above 100ºC. When they are led to surface a fraction will be
splashed into steam and major part remains as the boiling water
 B) dry fields: they produce dry saturated steam or superheated
steam at pressure above atmospheric
Hot Water Reservoirs: As the
Natural Steam Reservoirs: In this
name implies these are reservoirs
case a hole dug into the ground can
of hot underground water. There
cause steam to come to the surface.
is a large amount of them in the
This type of resource is rare in the US.
US, but they are more suited for
space heating than for electricity
production.
Hydrothermal convective systems: this system best resources for
geothermal energy exploitation at present. These are again sub classified
as
A) vapour dominated or dry steam fields
B) liquid dominated or wet steam fields
C) hot water fields
Geo pressured Reservoirs: In this type of reserve, brine completely
saturated with natural gas in stored under pressure from the weight of
overlying rock. This type of resource can be used for both heat and for
natural gas.
Normal Geothermal Gradient: At any place on the planet, there is a
normal temperature gradient of +300C per km dug into the earth.
Therefore, if one digs 20,000 feet the temperature will be about 1900C
above the surface temperature. This difference will be enough to
produce electricity. However, no useful and economical technology has
been developed to extracted this large source of energy.
Hot Dry Rock: As the name implies these are reservoirs of hot
underground water. There is a large amount of them in the US, but they
are more suited for space heating than for electricity production.This
type of condition exists in 5% of the US.
Molten Magma: No technology exists to tap into the heat reserves
stored in magma. The best sources for this in the US are in Alaska and
Hawaii.
• space heating
• air conditioning
• industrial processes
• drying
• Greenhouses
• Aquaculture
• hot water
• resorts and pools
• melting snow
•Direct Sources function by sending water down a well to be
heated by the Earth’s warmth.
•Then a heat pump is used to take the heat from the underground
water to the substance that heats the house.
• Then after the water it is cooled is injected back into the Earth.
Dry Steam Plants: These were the first type of plants created.
They use underground steam to directly turn the turbines.
Dry steam power
plants use very hot
(>455 °F, or >235 °C)
steam and little water
from the geothermal
reservoir. The steam
goes directly through
a pipe to a turbine to
spin a generator that
produces electricity.
This type of
geothermal power
plant is the oldest,
first being used at
Lardarello, Italy, in
1904
Flash Steam Plants: These are the most common plants. These
systems pull deep, high pressured hot water that reaches temperatures
of 3600F or more to the surface. This water is transported to low
pressure chambers, and the resulting steam drives the turbines. The
remaining water and steam are then injected back into the source from
which they were taken.
This is the most common
type of geothermal power
plant.
The steam, once it has been
separated from the water, is
piped to the powerhouse
where it is used to drive the
steam turbine.
The steam is condensed
after leaving the turbine,
creating a partial vacuum and
thereby maximizing the power
generated by the turbine-
generator.
The steam is usually
condensed either in a direct
contact condenser, or a heat
exchanger type condenser.
In a direct contact condenser the cooling water from the cooling tower is sprayed onto
and mixes with the steam.
 The condensed steam then forms part of the cooling water circuit, and a substantial
portion is subsequently evaporated and is dispersed into the atmosphere through the
cooling tower.
Excess cooling water called blow down is often disposed of in shallow injection
wells.
As an alternative to direct contact condensers shell and tube type condensers are
sometimes used, as is shown in the schematic above.
In this type of plant, the condensed steam does not come into contact with the cooling
water, and is disposed of in injection wells

Typically, flash condensing geothermal power plants vary in size from 5 MW to over
100 MW.
Small power plants (less than 10 MW) are often called well head units as they only
require the steam of one well and are located adjacent to the well on the drilling pad in
order to reduce pipeline costs.
Binary Cycle Plants: This system passes moderately hot geothermal water past a
liquid, usually an organic fluid, that has a lower boiling point. The resulting
steam from the organic liquid drives the turbines. This process does not
produce any emissions and the water temperature needed for the water is lower
than that needed in the Flash Steam Plants (2500F – 3600F).

Casa Diablo
In reservoirs where temperatures are
typically less than 220o C. but greater
than 100o C binary cycle plants are
often utilised.
The reservoir fluid (either steam or
water or both) is passed through a heat
exchanger which heats a secondary
working fluid (organic) which has a
boiling point lower than 100o C.
This is typically an organic fluid such
as Isopentane, which is vaporised and
is used to drive the turbine.
The organic fluid is then condensed
in a similar manner to the steam in the
flash power plant described above,
except that a shell and tube type
condenser rather than direct contact is
used.
The fluid in a binary plant is recycled back to the heat exchanger and forms a closed loop.
The cooled reservoir fluid is again re-injected back into the reservoir.
Binary cycle type plants are usually between 7 and 12 % efficient, depending on the
temperature of the primary (geothermal) fluid. Binary Cycle plant typically vary in size from 500
kW to 10 MW
Hot Dry Rocks: The simplest models have one injection well and two
production wells. Pressurized cold water is sent down the injection well
where the hot rocks heat the water up. Then pressurized water of
temperatures greater than 2000F is brought to the surface and passed
near a liquid with a lower boiling temperature, such as an organic liquid
like butane. The ensuing steam turns the turbines. Then, the cool water
is again injected to be heated. This system does not produce any
emissions. US geothermal industries are making plans to commercialize
this new technology.
 They are the most easily developed system
 They have the lowest cost and least number of serious
problems
 Dry steam from the wells is collected, filtered to remove
abrasive particles and passed through turbines, which drive
electric generators
 The difference between this system and conventional steam
turbine-generator system that steam is supplied at a much
lower temperature and pressure-200C and 35bar
 Thermal efficiency only about 15%, compared to 40% in
modern fossil fuel plant
 A number of environmental effects are Characteristics of
geothermal steam plant
 The steam may contain 0.5 to 5% by weight of non-
condensable gases which appear in turbine exhaust
 These gases consist mainly of CO with small amounts of
methane and ammonia
 It may contain 4 to 5% of hydrogen sulphide. It can harmful
to plant and animal life.
 The withdrawal of large amounts of steam from a
hydrothermal reservoir may result in surface subsidence
 The liquid dominated reservoir, the water temperature is
above the normal boiling point(100C)
 The water in the reservoir is under pressure, it does not boil
but remains in the liquid state
 When water comes to surface the pressure reduced, rapid
boiling occurs and the liquid water flashes into mixture of hot
water and steam.
 The steam can be separated and used to generate electricity
 The remaining hot water can be utilised to provide space and
process heat, distilled to yield purified water
 This system requires much larger total mass flow rates
through the well
 Due to large amount of flows, there is a greater degree of
ground surface subsidence
 The system provides a greater degree of precipitation of
minerals from the brine, resulting in the necessity for design
of valves, pumps, separator and other equipment's for
operation under scaling conditions
 Greater corrosion of piping, well casing, and other conduits
 Many times temperature and pressure of the water may not be
sufficient to produce the flash steam
 Flashed steam systems have been widely used in Japan, New-
Zealand, Italy and USA
 The spent brine leaving the separator has a large mass flow
rate and a large energy compared that in the steam used to
drive the turbine
 Double flash cycle can give more power than single flash
cycle under the same condition
 The brine from 1 is admitted to second lower pressure
separator, where it flashes to a lower pressure steam
 That produced steam admitted to a low pressure stage in
the turbine
 The remaining brine is rejected to the ground
 Example : 50MW Hatchobaru plant build on the island of
Kyushu in Japan
 In order to isolate the turbine from corrosion or erosive
materials and to accommodate higher concentration of non
condensable gases the binary cycle is used
 This is basically Rankine cycle with an organic working
fluid
 A heat exchanger system is used to transfer a fraction of
the brine enthalpy to vaporise the secondary working fluid
 Expansion through a turbine to a lower pressure, fixed by
heat rejection temperature, provides the means for power
generation
 About 50% of hydrothermal water is in moderate temperature
range of 153 to 205ºC. This water is lower temperature is
unsuitable for power production.
 This water suitable for direct utilization for domestic and
industrial process heating.
 If this water is used in a flashed –steam system, it would have
to be throttled down to such a low pressure that results in
excessively large specific volume flows as well as even poor
cycle efficiencies
 The binary system overcome this limitations of flashed steam
system. The binary system an organic fluid with a low boiling
point ,such as isobutene(2 methal propane)C4H10(normal
boiling point at one atm.pressure and 10ºC and Freon-12 (-
29.8ºC) are usually recommended. Ammonia and propane may
also used.
 The first binary cycle was installed in the Soviet Union on
the Kamchatka Peninsula in 1967-capacity of 680kW and
used Freon -12 as working fluid
 The first binary cycle to be built in United States is an
11MW plant built by the Magma Company in California
 The second binary cycle to be built in United States is an
10MW plant built at Raft River-Idaho
 This concept would utilize both the kinetic energy and heat
energy of the steam-liquid mixture produced by flashing
the geothermal brine.
 The overall efficiency for conversion into electrical energy
should be greater
 The hot brine from geothermal well at 1 is throttled to
2,where it is two phase mixture of low quality. The full
flow is expanded to 3, condensed to 4. the brine is re-
injected into the ground at 5
Fenton Hill plant
 That are composed of hot dry rock(HDR) but no
underground water
 The thermal energy of the HDR is extracted by pumping
water through a well that has been drilled to the lower part
of the fractured rock.
 The water moves through the fractures, picking up heat.
 It is then travels up a second well
 It is used in a power plant to produce electricity
 Brine can salinate soil if the water is not injected back into the reserve
after the heat is extracted.
• Extracting large amounts of water can cause land subsidence, and this
can lead to an increase in seismic activity. To prevented this the
cooled water must be injected back into the reserve in order to keep
the water pressure constant underground.
• Power plants that do not inject the cooled water back into the ground
can release H2S, the “rotten eggs” gas. This gas can cause problems if
large quantities escape because inhaling too much is fatal.

•One well “blew its top” 10 years after it was built, and this threw
hundreds of tons of rock, mud and steam into the atmosphere.

•There is the fear of noise pollution during the drilling of wells.

 Useful minerals, such as zinc and silica, can be extracted from
underground water.

 Geothermal energy is “homegrown.” This will create jobs, a better

global trading position and less reliance on oil producing countries.

 US geothermal companies have signed $6 billion worth of contracts

to build plants in foreign countries in the past couple of years.

 In large plants the cost is 4-8 cents per kilowatt hour. This cost is
almost competitive with conventional energy sources.
•Geothermal plants can be online 100%-90% of the time. Coal plants can only be
online 75% of the time and nuclear plants can only be online 65% of the time.

•Flash and Dry Steam Power Plants emit 1000x to 2000x less carbon dioxide than
fossil fuel plants, no nitrogen oxides and little SO2.

•Geothermal electric plants production in 13.380 g of Carbon dioxide per kWh,

whereas the CO2 emissions are 453 g/kWh for natural gas, 906g g/kWh for oil and
1042 g/kWh for coal.

•Binary and Hot Dry Rock plants have no gaseous emission at all.

•Geothermal plants do not require a lot of land, 400m2 can produce a gigawatt of
energy over 30 years.
 •Geothermal Heat Pumps:
- produces 4 times the energy that they consume.
-initially costs more to install, but its maintenance cost is 1/3 of the
cost for a typical conventional heating system and it decreases
electric bill. This means that geothermal space heating will save the
consumer money.
-can be installed with the help of special programs that offer low
interest rate loans.

•Electricity generated by geothermal plants saves 83.3 million barrels of fuel

each year from being burned world wide. This prevents 40.2 million tons of
CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere.
•Direct use of geothermal energy prevents 103.6 million barrels of fuel each
year from being burned world wide. This stops 49.6 tons of CO2 from being
emitted into the atmosphere.
 On average, the Earth emits 1/16
W/m2. However, this number can be
much higher in areas such as regions
near volcanoes, hot springs and
fumaroles.

 As a rough rule, 1 km3 of hot rock

cooled by 1000C will yield 30 MW of
electricity over thirty years.

 It is estimated that the world could

produce 600,000 EJ over 5 million
years.

 There is believed to be enough heat

radiating from the center of the Earth
to fulfill human energy demands for
the remainder of the biosphere’s
lifetime.
Geothermal production of energy is 3rd highest among renewable
energies. It is behind hydro and biomass, but before solar and wind.

Iceland is one of the more countries successful in using geothermal

energy:
-86% of their space heating uses geothermal energy.
-16% of their electricity generation uses geothermal energy.
Advantages of geothermal energy
1. Geothermal energy is versatile in its use
2. It is cheaper compared to the energies obtained from other
sources
3. Geothermal power plants have highest annual load factors of
85% to 90% compared to 45% to 50% percent for fossil plants
4. Geothermal energy is the least polluting compared to the other
conventional energy sources
5. The greatest attraction of geothermal energy is its availability
for the multiple uses from single resources
Dis advantages of geothermal energy
1. Overall efficiency for power production is low about 15% compared to
35-40% for fossil fuels
2. The withdrawal of large amounts of steam or water from a reservoir
may result in surface subsidence(settlement)
3. The steam and hot water gushing out of the earth may contain
CO2,NH3 gas etc..
4. Drilling operation is noisy
5. Large are needed for exploitation of geothermal energy