Mutnovskaya GeoPP is the largest geothermal power plant in Russia

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The number of geothermal deposits in our country, as elsewhere in the world, is unfortunately limited. But next to many of these sources, special stations have been built to generate electricity. Their advantage is, first of all, the very low cost of supplied energy. In Russia, the largest and most famous GeoPP is Mutnovskaya.

Where is it

This large station is located in the valley of the Mutnovsky volcano in the south of Kamchatka, in the Elizovsky district, at the right headwaters of the Falshivaya River. The production site of this industrial facility is located at an altitude of as much as 780 m above sea level. The city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is located approximately 116 km from the station.

Not far from this GeoPP is another similar facility - the older Verkhne-Mutnovskaya GTPP, which is considered mostly experimental. The nearest settlement to this station is the village of Dachny. It is he who usually acts as a transit point for tourists who come to the Elizovsky district of the Kamchatka Territory and decide to inspect the station, as well as climb the Mutnovsky volcano.

General Description

The Mutnovskaya station consists of three stages of power units. The main zones at this facility, as well as at any other similar one, are:

• steam generating;
• steam turbine.

The first ones include:

• geothermal wells;
• separators of the first stage, remote up to 1 km from the wells.

The design of steam turbine parts consists of the following elements:

• second stage separators;
• powerful steam turbines equipped with a condenser and cooling tower.

All facilities of the station are interconnected into a single complex. Separately, at the Mutnovskaya GeoPP, only a fire fighting facility and a fuel and lubricants warehouse were built. Another feature of this facility is that it is fully automated.

A pipe with hot steam runs underground along the station site. Thus, the workers of Mutnovskaya solved the problem of cleaning up its territory. Snow, as elsewhere on the Kamchatka Peninsula, is very frequent in the vicinity of the station. And if you do not get rid of it, it can become a big obstacle for the operation of the GeoPP.

The equipment used at this station is capable of withstanding earthquakes up to magnitude 7. At 8 points, all settings of this object are disabled, but remain in the ready mode. The GeoPP buildings themselves have a very solid structure. They are designed for earthquakes up to magnitude 9.

When the station was built

The Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the integrated development of the Far East region" was issued in 1987. This document noted, among other things, the importance of Kamchatka's geothermal facilities. It was then that the decision was made to put into operation ten years later, in 1997, a new GeoPP - Mutnovskaya. According to the project developed at that time, initially the capacity of this station was to be 50,000 MW. By 1998, this figure was supposed to be increased to 200 thousand MW.

Such grandiose plans of the Soviet government, however, unfortunately did not come true. The USSR collapsed. And although OJSC Geoterm, which is responsible for the implementation of the construction plan for the Mutnovskaya GeoPP, was established back in 1994, the construction of this facility itself began only in the 2000s.

The first block of the new station was commissioned in 2001. Its capacity was as much as 25 MW. Subsequently, the GeoPP was gradually completed and developed. To date, it is, as already mentioned, the largest and most powerful geostation in Russia. Together with the old Verkhne-Mutnovskaya GTPP, this production today supplies electricity to a third of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

How they get electricity

The Mutnovskaya GeoPP operates, like any other geothermal station, according to a rather simple principle. Transform heat inside the earth's crust at this object as follows:

• water is poured into the ground through an injection well, resulting in the formation ofartificial swimming pool;
• naturally heated pool water turns into steam;
• steam flows through the second well to the turbine blades.

Further, the rotational energy of the turbine is converted into electrical energy through the generator. It is on this principle that all the largest geothermal power plants operate, including Mutnovskaya, Mendeleevskaya, Okeanskaya, etc., as well as not too large facilities of this type.

Energy generation challenges

In total, more than 100 deep wells were drilled here during the existence of the Mutnovskaya station. But a feature of the use of geothermal sources for generating electricity is that such exploration is far from always effective. And, unfortunately, absolutely nothing can be done about it. Therefore, station workers have to put up with "geological failures" from time to time.

Another difficulty in generating electricity in this way is that wells at industrial facilities of this type tend to gradually lose their productivity over time due to overgrowth of pores with s alts. Therefore, GeoPPs, including Mutnovskaya, have to constantly carry out rather expensive geological surveys in order to drill new productive wells.

Station features

Used at the Mutnovsky geothermal field as a coolant is sufficiently moist steam, the temperature of which is 240 C. Its compositionis predominantly carbonic. The vapor also contains nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, methane and hydrogen.

Thermal power units at this station are combined with a binary cycle. It is this design that allows you to generate electricity with minimal losses. Accordingly, the cost of energy supplied to the general network of Kamchatka from this facility is very low. It is equal to approximately 3.66 p. for 1 kW. For comparison: the same indicator for diesel power plants is about 60 rubles. Thanks to the use of innovative technologies, the Mutnovskaya GeoPP is considered one of the most modern facilities of this type in the world today.

The wells available at the station were drilled to a depth of up to 2200 m. Actually, there are only about 30 working productive mines at the facility.

All sorts of impurities and water from the steam, before the latter enters the turbine blades, are removed at the station in special separators. Further, the coolant passes through fine filters. The waste remaining after processing is first fed into settling tanks, and then drained into the Falshivaya River. A distinctive feature of the Mutnovskaya station is that steam at a sufficiently low temperature - 300 C.

Electricity

From the generators, as at any other power plant, the energy at the Mutnovskaya GeoPP enters the distribution facilities. The exhaust steam is condensed in special cooling towers. Further, the resulting water is purified, pumpedback into the wells and going through a new work cycle.

The relief in Kamchatka is very complex. Therefore, the high-voltage line that transmits electricity from the station to the general network of the peninsula was once built only one. The total length of this transmission line is 70 km.

Employee facilities

The station personnel, of course, have to work in very difficult climatic conditions. The wind strength in those places where the Mutnovskaya GeoPP is located can reach 50 m/s. The weather here often changes several times a day.

The employees of the station, as well as at most other similar facilities, work on a rotational basis. They have to get to the station on KamAZ trucks or all-terrain vehicles. In particularly difficult weather conditions, helicopters can also be used to deliver workers to the GeoPP.

Staff at the station live in a comfortable hostel. Thought out in terms of staff convenience and the very infrastructure of this facility. A gym, a library, a swimming pool and a sauna are equipped for workers at the Mutnovskaya GeoPP. There is, of course, a rest room at the station.