AN

Warren Smith

Reynolds Allatdice
Geothermal Power
Auckland,

ABSTRACT

The first electric power p l a n t i n the Republic the

i n J u l y 1977 on the island of b y t e .

Steam f o r the power p l a n t is supplied by f i r s t deep exploration well

drilled into of the geothermal f i e l d . D r i l l i n g
of well 401 i n October 1976 and completed i n January 1977.
The i n s t a l l a t i o n of the power p l a n t i n Hay and was
by Imelda the Lady of the of the Philippines on
21 J u l y 1977.

The first commercial electric power p l a n t the Philippines was

July 1917 and sited on t h e field.

The turbine- generator i n s t a l l e d i n a power Rouse designed and constructed

.. by t h e National Power Corporation Twenty of transmission
i
!
l i n e constructed by the
of the nearby c i t y of
supply power to the e l e c t r i c a l supply franchise
A branch l i n e provides
I the p r o j e c t camp.

Steam is conveyed t o the power house valve by a pipeline and

constructed by the Philippine National O i l
Corporation
Energy -
The i n i t i a l pipeline wellhead system was to
. well and i n J u l y 1977. A standby steam supply i n t h e form
of a wellhead system and a pipeline between w a l l and the
was constructed subsequently July

The p i p e l i n e and wellhead designed by and by the

DRILLING WELL 401

D r i l l i n g of 401 on 2 1 October 1976. A surface casing

run on 26 October landed 129 and cemented back surface.
13 anchor casing, landed a t 306 on 4
of t h e hole, the production casing was run
to 475 and cemented back to hole was to total
depth of 1942 by January rig was released on 1 2 1977
a f t e r t h e l i n e r had been and c a r r i e d oat.

named
4
INXTIAL DISCHARGE TEST ON 401

During the h e a t up period a f t e r well completion, t h e w e l l was v e r t i c a l l y

discharged for hour. On t h e b a s i s of r e s u l t s this an
electrical power p o t e n t i a l of 6 was estimated, A t t h i s t i m e February)
a downhole temperature of was recorded.

r e s u l t s suggested t h a t t h e w e l l would be a good producer and t o make use

of t h e steam it w a s decided t o i n s t a l l a 3 p o w e r p l a n t nearby.

I n order t o w e l l output f o r t h e ongoing exploration programme

and to provide design d a t a , a s i n g l e stack s i l e n c e r was i n s t a l l e d and horizontal
discharge tests were c a r r i e d out. The r e s u l t s of t h e s e tests i n d i c a t e d t h a t '
a t a wellhead pressure of t h e w e l l produced mass flow rate
of 23 a t an enthalpy of 1200 A f u r t h e r v e r t i c a l discharge followed
t h e h o r i z o n t a l discharge and indicated, for an assumed enthalpy of 1200
and a wellhead pressure of 1.1 a t o t a l mass flow rate of 56
o u t p u t d a t a provided t h e basis f o r t h e p i p e l i n e and wellhead system design'.

PORTABLE 3 TURBINE-GENERATOR
The turbine- generator is a p o r t a b l e u n i t supplied by Heavy I n d u s t r i e s
Ltd to The u n i t was o r i g i n a l l y supplied for use a t t h e
P r o j e c t on t h e i s l a n d of

then and e n t e r t h e steam chest.

The t u r b i n e c o n s i s t s of a C u r t i s s t a g e and t h e d i s c is overhung from

the pinion of t h e reduction gear.

The steam, expanded i n t h e turbine is exhausted v e r t i c a l l y and piped t o a

v e r t i c a l s i l e n c e r mounted e x t e r n a l l y a t the r e a r of t h e p o w e r house.

i
All p r e s s u r e s in t is paper relative to atmospheric pressure
 PORTABLE 3 MW TURBINE GENERATOR
Figure 1

The t u r b i n e torque transmitted to the generator and t h e o i l cooling fan

through t h e single h e l i c a l reduction gear. couplings are used between
t h e gear wheel and t h e generator, and between t h e e x c i t e r and t h e cooling fan.
The reduction g e a r is arranged so that t h e a x i a l t h r u s t balances the turbine
blade thrust.

The o i l cooling fan of t h e double i n l e t c e n t r i f u g a l type and t h e exhaust

from t h e heat exchangers is discharged t o atmosphere the
front of t h e power house.

The generator is of t h e open, self v e n t i l a t e d a i r cooled type, drawing

through filters a t the e x c i t e r end of t h e generator.
Table Data

Turbine flow, back

geared turbine

output ( a t
generator 3.

Rated t u r b i n e speed

Rated steam at
valve 0.69
Backpreesure flange . 0.13
Gas content, w i g h t

of s t a g e s
Curtis
Reduction gear single helical

generator 1,800
Rated voltaga volt
60

PIPELINE

t a r g e t d a t e of J u l y 1977 for of t h e power p l a n t l e f t !

little for system a8 to be constructed. The need f o r rapid
development in i n s t a l l a t i o n of a which operated l e a s
than s a t i s f a c t o r i l y . The system as i n i t i a l l y i n s t a l l e d meet the t a r g e t
date i n Figure 2.

works f o r t h e house and t h e pipeline 401 were begun i n 1977.

Although drawings f o r an i n t e g r a l separator were produced by e a r l y

t h e r e was i n s u f f i c i e n t t i m e to manufacture a the
target date for installation. A hand 1000 B r e w s t e r ' separator
was therefore obtained another geothemal project. The separator
i n s t a l l e d adjacent to well 401 and connected to it by a two-phase loop
sired to allow f o r t h e thermal of t h e wellhead and casing.
The concrete at was of tho
position t h e wellhead system fixed and its was a c o n s t r a i n t t o
the design. The of raised and
water line..
It was planned to operata at a preasure o f 0.7 to
to here. A operated pressure controlling
valva mra power
stop valva. a
 109.

Table Pipeline data

line $300 nun NB ANSI s c h 40.

14 x m. Counterweight support
two towers.

Steam l i n e nun NB ANSI sch 40.

P i p e l i n e anchored i n 5 s e c t i o n s , with
h o r i z o n t a l or v e r t i c a l expansion loops.
Pipe guided on rollers.

Bypass l i n e $200 NB API l i n e pipe.

Separator water l i n e ANSI s c h 40.

SYSTEM MODIFICATIONS

Operational problems n e c e s s i t a t e d a number of modifications to t h e system.

The f i n a l system, a s p r e s e n t l y i n s t a l l e d is shown i n Figure 3.

During commissioning, t h e two-phase p i p e l i n e loop o s c i l l a t e d i n a h o r i z o n t a l

plane with an amplitude estimated as This v i b r a t i o n a l problem was
corrected by i n s t a l l i n g w i r e s t r o p s t h e c e n t e r of t h e loop and t h e
support towers. The s t r o p s arranged so as n o t t o be a f f e c t e d by t h e
thermal expansion of t h e pipe and w e l l , and were f i t t e d with turnbuckles to
enable t h e wire tension to be a d j u s t e d u n t i l t h e system frequency was ,
s u f f i c i e n t l y d i f f e r e n t from t h e f o r c i n g frequency t o vibration.

The s e p a r a t o r w a s i n i t i a l l y operated such t h a t some steam e x i t e d

with t h e separated water. Even under t h e s e conditions, t h e separation
e f f i c i e n c y of t h e system w a s less than s a t i s f a c t o r y .

The i n e f f i c i e n t s e p a r a t i o n r e s u l t e d i n t h e occurrence of severe mineral

deposition within t h e turbine. Thick, dense, blue- black, banded d e p o s i t s of
halite and s y l v i t e were evident on t h e nozzles of t h e steam
chest, and d e p o s i t s of amorphous s i l i c a were p r e s e n t on t h e blades of t h e
r o t o r and stator. The t u r b i n e operated u n t i l t h e force exerted on t h e t u r b i n e
t h r u s t bearings a c t i v a t e d t h e o v e r t h r u s t device and s h u t down t h e turbine.

I n an attempt to ease t h e s c a l i n g problem a 125 choke was i n s t a l l e d i n the

. two-phase p i p e l i n e above t h e wellhead. With t h e choke i n s t a l l e d t h e production
pressure rose from 0.8 t o 1.2 and t h e separation e f f i c i e n c y measured
near t h e power house increased to 97%.

A n i n t e g r a l water drum s e p a r a t o r manufactured i n Manila was used t o replace

t h e ' B r e w s t e r ' separator during mid March 1978. The 125 choke was replaced
with a smaller 100 choke which r e s u l t e d i n an i n c r e a s e i n t h e production
pressure t o 1.8 Other c a r r i e d o u t a t this time included t h e
i n s t a l l a t i o n of a s t r a i n e r immediately upstream of t h e turbine, a for
f u t u r e p i p e l i n e connections, a steam f l o w rate metering orifice and deepening
of t h e condensate pots to prevent re- entry of t h e condensate i n t o the steam
flow. Dryness tests conducted a t v a r i o u s operating conditions Indicated t h a t
t h e separation of t h e system had increased t o 99.972.
 P r i o r to February 1978 t h e separated wastewater exhausted from t h e s i l e n c e r
was cascaded down cooling channels and i n t o a pond where it w a s cooled before
flowing i n t o t h e Mahiao r i v e r . Because of t h e p o t e n t i a l l y t o x i c nature of
t h e e f f l u e n t and t h e need to discharge t h e e f f l u e n t from o t h e r nearby wells
i n t o t h e waterways, it w a s decided r e i n j e c t t h e wastewater f r o m 401 i n t o
a nearby shallow w e l l . The shallow well chosen is l o c a t e d near t h e
power house and indicated a favourable i n j e c t i v i t y based on c o l d water
pumping tests conducted during November 1977. Well completed i n
April 1976 t o a depth of 590 m encountered a heated meteoric water zone
overlying t h e hot c h l o r i d e waters of t h e Mahiao Reservoir. A
temperature of was recorded a t 590 Stage Report).

A r e i n j e c t i o n system as shown i n Figure 4 was constructed and r e i n j e c t i o n of

waste f l u i d began i n February 1978.

TGE 10 SYSTEM Figure 4

The wastewater separated a t about 1.0 and is cooled approximately 3

while flowing through t h e r e i n j e c t i o n l i n e . The water flow r a t e the
401 s e p a r a t o r was estimated a t 1 0

Results from r e i n j e c t i o n i n t o indicated t h a t t h e r e are no apparent

.
n
problems with r e i n j e c t i n g f l u i d I n t o t h i s h o t s e c t i o n of t h e f i e l d . . .. ,.
The h o r i z o n t a l ' s i l e n c e r ' located t o t h e r e a r of t h e power house and used t o
exhaust t h e bypassed steam was extremely noisy. The drop i n p r e s s u r e across
t h e bypass valve caused t h e steam to become superheated and when exhausted
through t h e horizontal ' s i l e n c e r ' gave rise t o sound power l e v e l s estimated
t o be in excess of 100
e
A pipe from 300 diameter pipe p e r f o r a t e d on its upper
and submerged i n a pool of water served as a submerged d i f f u s e r
and reduced t h e sound to an almost n e g l i g i b l e level.

A l s o known as 4Rl
 the 3 plant
u n i t and reliable of
provide for: it decided to connect 404 .
to the This wall was on 23 to a depth of 1668
tested for output between and 1977.

Design of a wellhead and system in October 1977 and

construction during February 1978. The l i n e and the
from t h e separator of wall constructed concurrently.

The p i p e l i n e 404 and t h e power s t a t i o n was in

J u l y 1978 and is presently steam to t h e power p l a n t while w e l l
401 is being monitored for and temperature recovery following
recent output tests.

It is planned to operate tho 3 MU plant a 112 p l a n t to

be b u i l t a t Tongonan, is

operation of t h e 3 w i l l provide long

r e i n j e c t i o n d a t a which w i l l assist f u r t h e r f i e l d

Since i t a completion, 401 been discharged for a total of 23

and over t h i s period i t a output c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s have to t h e .
w e l l having been used to to t h e power p l a n t , a total flow
r a t e and enthalpy of 42 and 1500 were determined f o r
a pressure of 1.8 A r e c e n t output test indicated a total
f l o w rate of 23 and an enthalpy of 2300 a t a production
of 1.8

Over t h e f u l l discharge period, a decrease i n the total flow rate,

the steam flow rate a t a separator pressure of 1.0 has increased from 15
to 16

3 MU electric power p l a n t i n s t a l l e d a t Tongonan a n example of

rapid u t i l i z a t i o n of geothermal energy.

0.6 of to the
replaced e l e c t r i c i t y produced by driven generatora.

Valuable experience i n engineering and p l a n t operation

Reinjection of waste f l u i d s has data on t h e

of r e i n j e c t i n g fluid. t h e high pressure to be
for t h e first of the 112 development designed for field.

Tho i n s t a l l a t i o n of f u r t h e r generating u n i t s
planned by and for a f i e l d on tho nearby of
 author to for
to prepare thia paper. to in
. . and data and in of
paper. work dons the power plant by undertaken
p a r t of a New Technicdl Co-operation Project.

. REFERENCES
Second Stage Report on
in b y t e , Philippines.
1 D r i l l i n g Report,
.Project, Tongonan, Leyte,
(1978) Mahiao Report,
Exploration Tongonan,
Philippines.

Portable 3 Generator, Plana

Specifications,
Ltd, and