5
Single-Flash Steam Power Plants 99

The results of the phase 2 calculations are shown below. The maximum gross
power is 8.23 MW, indicative of a very good well. In this case, the optimum power
occurs at essentially the same separator conditions as does the optimum specific
power. This happens because the well flow curve is choked and the flow rate is nearly
constant in the range of pressures around the optimum point. We will next consider
an example where the well is not choked.
Power output vs. separator temperature
8.3
T-sep P-sep m-dot total W-dot (MW)
125 2.321 96.16 8.082 8.2
130 2.701 95.97 8.171 Power output, MW
135 3.120 95.83 8.220 8.1
140 3.613 95.75 8.230
145 4.154 95.74 8.203 8.0
150 4.758 95.75 8.135
155 5.431 95.75 8.026 7.9
160 6.178 95.64 7.866
7.8
120 130 140 150 160
Separator temperature, C

5.5.2 Non-choked well flow

Many wells do not reach their maximum flow rate except at very low wellhead pres-
sures. These very low pressures are not usually appropriate as turbine inlet conditions.
This type of productivity curve is often the result of low reservoir permeability or too
small a diameter for the well casing. Such wells are not very productive and will lead
to a different outcome in the optimization procedure.
Let us now assume the well is characterized by the following production data:
Typical geothermal well productivity curve
P-wh m-dot total
50
2 43.0
3 42.1
Total mass flow, kg/s

4 40.6 40
5 39.7
6 38.1 30
7 35.0
8 32.2 20
9 30.0
10 28.0
11 24.7 10
12 20.0
13 17.3 0
bar,a kg/s 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Wellhead pressure, bar,a

The data can be correlated very well with the second-order equation:
_ total 5 44:333 20:3363 P2 20:1357 P22
m ð5:33Þ
The results of the phase 1 calculations are the same as for the first case and are not
repeated here. The results of the phase 2 calculations are shown on the following