Mutnovskaya Power Station

Mutnovskaya power station is a geothermal power plant. It is located near a volcanic mountain at of 800 m altitude, 130 km south from the administrative center of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka region. Its capacity is more than 300 MW.
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History

It entered service in 2003.

Technology

The plant has two identical direct cycle turbines of 25 MW each. Each turbine is rated at 6.1 bars inlet pressure and a steam flowrate of 44.5 kg/s. The geothermal reservoir contains two-phase water. The reservoir temperature is 250-300 °C. Proven steam resources of are 172 kg/s. Fluid is extracted from 12 wells for a total steam flowrate of 156 kg/s. Wellhead pressures are 7-10 bars.

Separation of the mixture is done at the plant. The steam/water mixture from wells is transported by individual and common pipelines. Separated water and waste heat are fed into injection wells. The decision about two-phase transportation was the result of administrative intrigues.

Steam-water pipelines were built without hydraulic calculation until 2003. The optimal diameter of pipes sometimes was not determined. Some pipelines have experienced pressure loss, while some pipelines have experienced pulsations. Compensation of temperature extensions was implemented by curves in pipelines.

Hydraulic calculations related to pipelines began in 2003. Old pipes were reconstructed and new ones were built. Bellows expansion joints were established and the non-functional local resistances were eliminated. At present, the total length of pipelines of steam-water mixture is more than 10 km. The longest pipeline has a length of 2.3 km.^[2]

References