When the reservoir temperature is not enough to produce electrical energy, its main applications are thermal in the industrial, services, and residential sectors.
Until now, the use of this energy in the world has been limited to areas where geological conditions were very favorable. But current technological advances in equipment and improvements in prospecting and drilling allow geothermal today to have the technology for producing electricity from geothermal resources with temperatures significantly lower than those required years ago.
Here are the top 10 list of Geothermal Power Complexes
1. The Geysers Geothermal Complex. 1,808 MW. United States
The Geysers Geothermal Complex, located about 116 kilometers north of San Francisco, California, comprises 21 power plants that make it the most extensive geothermal facility in the world. The complex has an installed capacity of 1,808 MW and an operational production capacity of more than 1,000 MW, working only at 63% of its production capacity.
Calpine Corporation owns 19 power plants in the complex, providing a combined net generating capacity of around 725 MW. The other two power plants are jointly owned by the Northern California Power Agency, Silicon Valley Power. And US Renewables Group.
The facilities together cover an area of approximately 78 km². The geothermal field production began in 1960 and peaked in the 1980s. On the other hand, suppliers of the turbines for the power plants in the complex include Toshiba and Mitsubishi Steam.
2. Cerro Prieto Geothermal Complex. 820 MW. Mexico
With 820 MW of installed power, the Cerro Prieto Geothermal Power Plant located in southern Mexicali, in Baja, California, is the second-largest geothermal facility globally in northern Mexico. Like all other geothermal fields in Mexico, the power plant is owned and operated by the public power company Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
The plant has five plants, consisting of 15 units. The first plant was commissioned in 1973, while the fifth was commissioned in 2012. The first, CP1, has a capacity of 180 MW fed by four single flash turbines of 37.5 MW plus one of 30 MW; CP2 and CP3 have 220 MW of power each, added four double flash turbines of 110 MW; CP4 and CP5, with 100 MW each, the first with four 25 MW turbines and CP5, two 50 MW turbines. Toshiba and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have supplied all.
3. Larderello Geothermal Complex. 769 MW. Italy
The Larderello Geothermal Complex, consisting of 34 plants with a total net capacity of 769 MW, is the third-largest geothermal power facility in the world. The energy produced in the geothermal field, located in Tuscany, Central Italy, represents 10% percent of all geothermal energy produced in the world and meets 26.5% of regional energy needs.
Enel Green Power owns the power plants in the complex serving approximately two million families, 8,700 commercial customers, and 25 hectares of greenhouses. The depths of the reservoirs in the geothermal field range are between 700 and 4,000 meters below the surface. The first plant in the geothermal field was commissioned more than a century ago, in 1913, thus being the first of its kind in the world.
Larderello's first power plant had a capacity of 250 kW, comprising of a turbine designed and built by Tosi Electromechanical Company engineers. The geothermal plants in the field were rebuilt after they were destroyed during World War II.
4. Olkaria geothermal complex. 540 MW. Kenya
The Olkaria geothermal power plant is the largest plant in Kenya and the fourth in the world, with an installed capacity of 540 MW between the four phases. It will be added 140 MW from the fifth phase that is currently present being developed. The complex is located in Hell Gate National Park, in Olkaria, Nakuru County, on the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, approximately 33 kilometers by road, southwest of Naivasha and 120 km northwest of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
With the entry into unit IV (140 MW) of the Olkaria complex in early 2015, geothermal became the first source of electricity generation in the country, surpassing hydropower for the first time. The construction of the complex has been possible thanks to financing from the EIB, the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Government of Kenya, the French Cooperation Agency, and the German Cooperation Agency, among others.
The project has been developed in different phases by the Indian company KEC, the Japanese Toyota Tshusho and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Korean Hyundai Engineering, and Sinclair Knight Merz from New Zealand. The geothermal complex is owned by the public utility Kenya Electricity Generating Company (Kengen).
5. Makban Geothermal Complex. 458 MW. Philippines
The Marban Geothermal Complex, also known as Makiling-Banahaw Power Plants, is located in Bahia and Calauan in the Laguna province and Santo Tomás, on the island of Luzon. It is the fifth-largest geothermal energy facility in the world, with a production capacity of 458 MW.
The geothermal energy complex is owned by AP Renewables, a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power. The complex consists of six power plants comprising ten units, including a binary plant with five 3 MW units and one 0.73 MW unit. With an area of 700 hectares, the facilities began operations in 1979, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries being one of the leading suppliers of turbines for the complex's plants.
6. Salton Sea Geothermal Complex. 340 MW. United States
The Salton Sea Geothermal Complex has ten geothermal power generation plants in Calipatria, near the Salton Sea in the Imperial Valley of Southern California. With a combined generating capacity of 340 MW, it is the sixth-largest geothermal facility in the world.
CalEnergy Generation, the field operator on the site, has half of the stake in the facilities. In contrast, the remaining half is held by MidAmerican Geothermal, with the generated power being supplied to the Southern California Edison Company.
Unit 1, with a 10 MW production capacity, was the first to go into operation in 1982, built by a joint venture formed by the Union Oil Company and Southern California Edison. CalEnergy Generation, the site operator, is currently developing new projects in the area, adding the Black Rock Project, which will create the geothermal capacity in the room.
7. Hellisheidi Geothermal Complex. 303 MW. Iceland
The Hellisheidi Geothermal Complex is flash steam combined with a heat and power (CHP) plant located on Mount Hengill, approximately 20 kilometers east of Reykjavik's capital. The plant has a 400 MW of thermal energy and a production capacity of 303 MW of electrical power.
Owned by Orkuveita Reykjavik, it is the sixth-largest geothermal facility globally, built by Mannvit Engineering and Verkís Engineering. The energy generated from the plant is supplied mainly to the aluminum refineries that are located in the vicinity.
The facilities were built in five phases between 2006 and 2011, covering approximately 13,000 m². Mitsubishi engineers supplied six high-pressure turbines for the power plant, while Toshiba engineers supplied one low-pressure turbine.
8. Tiwi Geothermal Complex. 289 MW. Philippines
The Tiwi Geothermal Complex is situated in a place about 300 kilometers southeast of Manila. At 289 MW (net), it is the eighth largest geothermal facility globally, owned, like the Makban complex, by AP Renewables, a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power. The complex is made up of three power plants that have two units each.
Drilling work in the geothermal field began in 1972, with the facilities coming into operation in 1979. The project was developed by the National Power Corporation(NPC) with Philippine Geothermal, while Mitsui and F.F. Cruz were the prime contractors. Furthermore, all power plants have Toshiba generating units.
9. Darajat Geothermal Complex. 259 MW. Indonesia
The Darajat Geothermal Complex located in Garut, in the Pasirwangi District in West Java, is the tenth-largest geothermal facility globally with an installed capacity of 259 MW, which Darajat GPP Amoseas Indonesia controls, a subdivision of Chevron Texaco.
The facilities consist of three plants that provide electricity to the provinces of Java and Bali. The plants that comprise it were delivered respectively in 1994, 2000, and 2007, sharing plants II and III common facilities, including the steam collection system.
Thiess Contractors Indonesia built the last plant in collaboration with Kanematsu Corporation, a turbine supplied by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) engineers, who also provided the turbine for the second plant. In addition, Hyundai Engineering provided the equipment for the first two plants.
10. Malitbog Geothermal Complex. 233 MW. Philippines
The 233 MW Malitbog Geothermal Complex, located approximately 25 kilometers north of Ormoc on Leyte Island, is the 10th largest geothermal facility in the world. The plant was owned by Visayas Geothermal Power Company (VGPC), which subsequently transferred ownership rights to the Philippine National Oil-Energy Development Company (PNOC).
The Malitbog geothermal power facility, carried out by Sumitomo Corporation and Fuji Electric, began in 1993 and was completed in 1996. The complex has three 77.5 MW single-cylinder dual-flow condensing turbines supplied by Fuji Electric.
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