The number of geothermal deposits in our country, as elsewhere in the world, unfortunately, is limited. But next to many of these sources, special stations have been built that generate electricity. Their advantage is primarily the very low cost of energy supplied. In Russia, the largest and most famous GeoPP is Mutnovskaya.
Where is
This large station is located in the valley of the Mutnovsky volcano in the south of Kamchatka, in the Yelizovsky district, at the right sources of the False 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 TPP, which is considered to be mostly experimental. The closest settlement to this station is the village of Dachny. It is he who usually acts as a transshipment point for tourists who arrived in the Yelizovsky district of the Kamchatka Territory and decided to inspect the station, as well as climb the Mutnovsky volcano.
general description
Mutnovskaya station consists of three phases of power units. The main areas on this object, as on any other similar one, are zones:
steam generating;
steam turbine.
The first ones include:
The design of the steam turbine parts consists of the following elements:
All station facilities are interconnected into a single complex. Separately, only fire fighting facilities and a warehouse for fuels and lubricants were built at Mutnovskaya GeoPP. A feature of this object is that it is fully automated.
A pipe with hot steam passes under the station’s site underground. Thus, the workers of Mutnovskaya solved the problem of cleaning its territory. Snow, like everywhere else on the Kamchatka Peninsula, is very frequent in the station area. And if you do not get rid of it, it can become a big obstacle to the work of the GeoPP.
The equipment used at this station is capable of withstanding earthquakes of up to 7 points. At 8 points, all installations of this object are turned off, but continue to remain in standby mode. The buildings of the GeoPP themselves have a very solid construction. They are designed for earthquakes up to 9 points.
When was the station built
The resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the integrated development of the Far Eastern region" was issued in 1987. This document also noted the importance of geothermal objects in Kamchatka. It was then that the decision was made to put into operation ten years later, in 1997, the new GeoES - Mutnovskaya. According to the project developed then, 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.
Unfortunately, such grandiose plans of the Soviet government did not succeed. The USSR collapsed. And although Geotherm OJSC, which is responsible for implementing the construction plan of the Mutnovskaya GeoPP, was created back in 1994, this object itself was only started to be built at zero.
The first unit of the new station was put into operation in 2001. Its capacity was as much as 25 MW. Subsequently, the GeoPP was gradually being completed and developed. To date, it is, as already mentioned, the largest and most powerful geostation in Russia. Together with the old Verkhne-Mutnovskaya gas turbine power station, this production today supplies electricity to a third of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
How to get electricity
The Mutnovskaya GeoPP functions, like any other geothermal station, according to a rather simple principle. Convert heat inside the earth's crust at this facility as follows:
water is poured through the injection well underground, resulting in the formation of an artificial pool;
naturally heated water in the pool turns into steam;
steam flows through a second well onto the turbine blades.
Further, the energy of rotation of the turbine through the generator is converted into electrical energy. It is on this principle that all the largest geothermal power plants work, including Mutnovskaya, Mendeleevskaya, Okeanskaya, etc., as well as not too large objects of this type.
Power generation difficulties
In total, more than 100 deep wells have been drilled here during the existence of the Mutnovskaya station. But the peculiarity of using geothermal sources for generating electricity is that such explorations are far from always effective. And unfortunately, absolutely nothing can be done with this. Therefore, station workers simply have to put up with “geological failures” periodically.
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 salt overgrowth in pores. Therefore, at the GeoPP, including Mutnovskaya, it is necessary to constantly conduct quite expensive geological surveys with the aim of drilling new production wells.
Station Features
Rather moist steam is used in the Mutnovsky geothermal field as a coolant, the temperature of which is 240 C. It has a predominantly carbonic composition. Also in the pair are nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, methane and hydrogen.
Thermal power units at this station are installed combined with a binary cycle. It is this design that allows you to generate electricity with minimal loss. Accordingly, the cost of energy supplied to the general network of Kamchatka from this facility is very low. It is equal to about 3.66 p. for 1 kW. For comparison: the same indicator for diesel power plants is about 60 p. Thanks to the use of innovative technologies, Mutnovskaya GeoPP is considered one of the most modern facilities of this type in the world today.
The wells available at the station have been drilled to a depth of 2200 m. Actually working productive mines, while the facility has only about 30 pieces.
Various kinds of impurities and water from the steam, before the latter enters the turbine blades, are removed at the station in special separators. Next, the coolant passes through fine filters. In this case, the waste remaining after treatment is first fed to the settling tanks, and then discharged into the False River. A distinctive feature of the Mutnovskaya station is that steam of a sufficiently low temperature of 300 ° C is used here to rotate the turbines
Electricity
From generators, as at any other power plant, energy at the Mutnovskaya GeoPP is supplied to switchgears. The spent steam condenses in special cooling towers. Next, the resulting water is purified, pumped back into the wells and goes through a new work cycle.
The relief in Kamchatka is very complicated. Therefore, a high-voltage line that transfers electricity from the station to the peninsula’s common network was only once built. The total length of this power line is 70 km.
Facilities for employees
The station personnel, of course, have to work in very difficult climatic conditions. The wind force in those places where the Mutnovskaya GeoPP is located can reach 50 m / s. The weather here often changes several times a day.
Station employees work, like on most other similar objects, on a rotational basis. They have to get to the station on KamAZ trucks or all-terrain vehicles. Under especially difficult weather conditions, helicopters can also be used to deliver workers to the GeoPP.
Employees live at the station in a comfortable hostel. The infrastructure of this facility is thought out in terms of the convenience of the staff. A gym, library, pool and sauna are equipped for workers at the Mutnovskaya GeoPP. There is, of course, a rest room at the station.