Evaluation of the Impact of Off-Design Operation on an Air-Cooled Binary Power Plant

Geothermal power plants are designed and constructed to provide a rated power output at specific resource and ambient conditions. Due to both diurnal and seasonal changes in the ambient air temperature, as well as a decline in resource productivity over time, plants seldom operate at these "design" conditions. This paper examines the impact of "off- design" operation of an air-cooled binary geothermal power plant. An available energy analysis is used to evaluate operation at these conditions. This evaluation identifies those portions of the power cycle that are most sensitive to changing resource and ambient conditions, as well as where improvements in cycle component or system performance would have the largest impact in increasing power output