Þorleikur Jóhannesson, VERKIS Consulting Engineers IGC 2018 IRENA - Geothermal Direct Utilization: Food Security Food security and nutrition is one of the biggest concerns for developing countries, including Small Islands Developing States and landlocked countries, which are endowed with geothermal energy resources. In regions such as East Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia, and the South Pacific geothermal energy could be used to heat greenhouses and sterilise the soil to increase farmer productivity and off-season availability. It can also serve for drying, which helps preserve a wide range of foods. This could contribute to higher nutritional value and reduced food waste and result in substantial reduction in the drying space as well as time requirements. The experience of Iceland can be replicated in many other countries and demonstrates that the possibility to address various challenges, including food security and nutrition, through which domestic geothermal resources may turn problems into potential drivers for economic development.

1. Verkís Consulting Engineers | +354 422 8000 | verkis.com | verkis@verkis.com
Think outside the box
How creativity and innovative thinking when planning power production from geothermal resource can
lead to value creation beyond expectation
Þorleikur Jóhannesson
Mechanical Engineer
Verkís consulting Engineers - Iceland
Date: Tuesday, April 24th

2. • Wellfield
• Production and re-injection wells
• Gathering pipes
• Separators
• Steam supply lines
• Power plant
• Turbines
• Generators
• Condensers
• Wet Cooling tower
Typical components of geothermal flash plant

3. Single flash, direct condensing and wet cooling

4. Single flash, indirect condensing and wet cooling

5. • The location of the plant
• On the tip of Reykjanes peninsula
• Close to the sea
• Eliminate environmental impact
• Eliminate cooling towers
• Eliminate cooling tower plume
• Eliminate use of chemicals for cooling water treatment
• Use the sea for cooling!
Reykjanes plant cold end design approach

6. Single flash, indirect condensing and sea water
colling

7. • 100 MW geothermal single flash plant
• Separation pressure: 18 bara
• Condensing pressure: 0.1 bara.
• Shell and tube condensers
• Sea water cooled
Reykjanes geothermal power plant

8. • Pros
• Get rid of the cooling towers
• No plume from cooling towers
• 32°C warm clean sea...potential resource!
• Architectural design opportunities
• Cons
• More expensive
• Non – standard design
• Sea water pumping and condenser with titanium tubes
• Plant to be moved from the steam field, closer to the sea shore
Pros and cons

10. • Steam from separators: 170 kg/s @ 210°C
• 100 MW of electricity, if the steam is condensed @ 45°C
• Brine from separator to re-injection and disposal: 400 kg/s @ 210 °C
• 360 MW of heat, if the brine is utilized to 20°C
• Sea water from condensers: 3200 kg/s @ 32°C
• 160 MW of heat, if warm sea is utilized to 20°C
Power streams in Reykjanes

11. • At design stage:
• Usages not defined
• Using the sea water was not a part of the initial business plan
• Innovating thinking by Albert Albertsson and others
• Creating a resource from waste
• After commissioning
• Look for potential investors to harness this new resource
• Clean warm seawater – green energy – geothermal –renewable
• An opportunity a food producer could not resist.
Utilizing the 32°C clean sea water

12. • High tech aquaculture company
• Product: Sole Senegalensis
• Utilizing 2000 l/s of 32°C
• 100 MW of heat – Direct use
• Up to 70 employees
• Many derived jobs
Stolt sea farm

13. Stolt sea farm

14. Stolt sea farm
Separators
Steam field
Plant discharge
Seawater wells
Power plant
0 500 m

15. • Traditional thinking in geothermal , aiming for electricity only is outdated!
• Cascaded and multiple use is the present and future
• Geothermal licenses containing sentences like:
“Exclusive right to use geothermal resources for the purpose of generating
electric power”
should be avoided when licensing geothermal
• Using this clean energy in a reasonable manner to enhance quality food
production should be encourage through licensing
• There is no such thing as “waste”… only resources
• To think outside the box and innovative thinking never goes out of fashion.
Conclusion