96 Geothermal Power Plants: Principles, Applications, Case Studies and Environmental Impact

Also for a cyclic plant, we can define the thermal efficiency, ηth, as follows:

W_e
ηth 5 ð5:26Þ
Q_ in
Binary geothermal plants (see Chap. 8) have thermal efficiencies in the range of
10
13%.
It is easy to show [14] that

Q_ o 1
5 21 ð5:27Þ
_
We η th

Fossil-fired, combined steam-and-gas-turbine plants typically have thermal efficien-

cies of 50
55%, coal-fired plants are about 35
40% efficient, and nuclear plants
about 33
35% efficient. Thus, the rate of heat discharged per unit power generated
for these three types of plant are, on average, 0.9, 1.7, and 1.9, respectively, whereas
a typical geothermal binary plant discharges 7.7 units of waste heat for each unit of
useful output. Thus, a 50 MWe geothermal binary plant must have a cooling tower
8.5 times larger in cooling capacity than that for a 50 MWe combined cycle plant.
Although flash-steam plants are not cyclic in operation and the thermal efficiency
given in eq. (5.26) is not applicable, the waste heat can nevertheless be calculated using
Q_ o 5 x2 m
_ total ðh5 2 h6 Þ ð5:28Þ

for the single-flash plant described above. This can then be compared to the net power
using the equations in Sect. 5.4.4. The general qualitative conclusion regarding the
relative size of the cooling systems for flash-steam plants in comparison to conven-
tional plants is the same as for a binary plant, namely, they are larger than cooling
systems at conventional plants of the same power rating. One often sees a 5-cell cool-
ing tower used for a 30 MW geothermal flash plant, whereas that same tower could
easily accommodate a 250 MW state-of-the-art combined cycle plant.

5.4.7 Utilization efficiency

Lastly, the performance of the entire plant may be assessed using the Second Law of
thermodynamics by comparing the actual power output to the maximum theoretical
power that could be produced from the given geothermal fluid. This involves determin-
ing the rate of exergy carried into the plant with the incoming geofluid. An in-depth
presentation of Second Law analysis of geothermal plants is given in Chapter 10.
The specific exergy, e, of a fluid that has a pressure, P, and a temperature, T, in the
presence of an ambient pressure, P0, and an ambient temperature, T0, is given by
e 5 hðT; PÞ 2 hðT0 ; P0 Þ 2 T0 ½sðT; PÞ 2 sðT0 ; P0 Þ ð5:29Þ
When this is multiplied by the total incoming geofluid mass flow rate, we obtain the
maximum theoretical thermodynamic power or the exergetic power:
E_ 5 m
_ total e ð5:30Þ