Browsing by Author "Brender, Niklas"

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    Feasibility study for a medium-enthalpy geothermal power plant in Rosario de la Frontera, Salta, Argentina
    (2018-08-24) Brender, Niklas; Conde Serra, Alejandro; Kuhn, Dietmar
    "In this study the surrounding of Rosario de la Frontera was investigated for its suitability for geothermal energy production. The area is located in north-western Argentina, in the province of Salta, which is at the foothills of the Andean retro-wedge and in the northern part of the Sierra de la Candelaria anticline. In this region there are 13 hot springs with temperatures between 24.1ºC to 90.5ºC, which have been used for commercial purposes since 1880 and geological investigations were carried out early on, suggesting a large hydrothermal reservoir at a maximum depth of 3000 meters. In 2012 the presence of two aquifers at different depths was detected with the help of audiomagnetotelluric investigations and recent studies indicate these depths to 150 meters and 2400 meters respectively. Samples and calculations show temperatures between 100 C to 130 C and a permeability of 49 - 81.2mD for the deep aquifer. Based on these data, the focus was placed on the performance calculation of an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) power plant. Thereby, a power plant adapted to the boundary conditions in Rosario de la Frontera can deliver net outputs between 388.9kW to 893.9kW for well head temperatures ranging from 95 C to 125 C. In contrast, the achievable net outputs of two example turnkey systems are in the range of 137kW- 491kW. Further economic calculations determine the electricity generation costs at a value of 26.3 - 47.9US cents per kWh for a custom made solution and between 35.6 to 118.5UScents/kWh for the two turnkey systems. However, if the thermal water mass flow can be doubled, for example by hydraulic shearing, the levelized costs of energy for all systems and temperature ranges can be reduced by 30 - 40%. Nevertheless, these costs are still higher than those of other technologies, which illustrates the relevance of possible subsidy programs for this kind of geothermal energy."