“This 5MWe geothermal plant is going to be an important benchmark for both Turboden and the European geothermal industry,” says Paolo Bertuzzi, General Manager of Italian Turboden.
The geothermal plant is a 5MWe ORC turbo-generator based on a two pressure level cycle, fed with geothermal fluid at 140°C (284°F) and cooled by air condensers.
The geothermal plant will provide the existing district heating network, which is already fed by a 600 kWe Turboden biomass unit - with additional 4 MW thermal power (4000 MWhth/yr).
The startup is planned for the last quarter of 2011.
Turboden systems are driven by a simple evaporation process and are entirely enclosed, which means they produce no emissions.
The ORC geothermal systems can be powered with a variety of renewable energy sources including geothermal, biomass, solar thermal power and industrial waste heat.