Recent Technology of

Geothermal Steam Turbines

Yoshifumi Kato

1. Introduction stage. Through employing the new reaction blade

airfoil, stage efficiency will be increased by 1.5%.
The cumulative capacity of geothermal power
plants constructed worldwide has reached 7,974MW, 2.2 Advanced low pressure (LP) blade
(1)
which is a 16.6% increase in the last 5 years . The A sudden increase in the cross sectional area of the
cumulated capacity of the geothermal turbines Fuji steam line in the last few stages of a condensing steam
Electric has manufactured increased from 1,253MW as turbine is necessary due to the huge steam expansion
of 1995 to 1,566MW as of September 2000, which is a that occurs in a vacuum. Long LP blades are employed
25% increase in terms of capacity. This reveals that for the last three stages.
increased international environmental awareness has Progress in computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
resulted in a larger total geothermal capacity and that has enabled the development of advanced LP blades.
throughout the world, users have appreciated the Following the development of a 38.5-inch LP blade
reliability and performance of Fuji’s geothermal steam for use at 3,000 r/min in the latter half of 1980s, a
turbines. series of advanced LP blades has been completed,
The evolution of geothermal steam turbine technol-
(2)
ogy was introduced in a previous paper . Develop- Fig.1 Comparison in efficiency of reaction blade airfoil N1 and
ment of the geothermal steam turbine has continued to T4
make progress over the past 5 years. This paper
introduces the recent technology of geothermal steam 1.02
Airfoil N1
turbines, and also presents the features of two typical 1.00
geothermal steam turbines that were put into commer-
0.98
Relative efficency

cial operation in 2000.

Decreasing production well pressure is an inevita- 0.96
ble consequence of geothermal power generation. Two
0.94 Airfoil T4
solutions to maintain the output of geothermal power
plants in cases of decreasing production well pressure 0.92
will be described.
0.90

2. Recent Technology of Geothermal Steam 0.88

0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0
Turbines Loading factor

Geothermal steam turbines have been developed

based upon fossil fueled steam turbines, and therefore Fig.2 Last stage stationary blade ring
several new technologies employed by geothermal
steam turbines are the same as those used in fossil
fueled steam turbines. This section describes those
technologies which are shared with fossil fueled steam
turbines as well as specific technology for the geother-
mal steam turbine.

2.1 Advanced reaction blade airfoil having higher efficiency

An advanced reaction blade airfoil (Fig. 1) was
developed to reduce the number of stages in fossil
fueled steam turbines by increasing the heat drop per

124 Vol. 47 No. 4 FUJI ELECTRIC REVIEW

spanning the entire output range. specific volume of the low pressure inlet steam is large.
The last (L-0) stationary blades are radially angled Double eccentric butterfly valves were employed
in order to increase reaction degree near the root and for the low pressure inlet steam as general stop valves.
to reduce secondary losses (Fig. 2). Airfoils near the tip However, opening a double eccentric butterfly valve
of the last stage blades (LSB) are contoured to form a usually requires a large torque from an actuator due to
so-called convergent-divergent passage that prevents the large wedge force generated by the point contact on
the generation of normal shocks which cause large the sealing surface between the disk and the sheet.
losses in the transonic cascades (Fig. 3). A feature of the triple eccentric buttery valve is
By employing the advanced LP blades, stage that its sealing surface is contoured in the shape of a
efficiency will be improved by approximately 3%. cone whose center does not coincide with the disk
center (Fig. 4). The seal rings installed in the disk are
2.3 Large bore sized, triple eccentric butterfly valves pushed into the disk when the valves closed. As the
Liquid dominated geothermal power plants tend to result, sealing is achieved through surface contact
employ double flash technology to increase generator instead of point contact. A comparably small actuator
output. force is sufficient to open these valves smoothly.
In a double flash system, the separated hot water
in an HP flasher is fed to an LP flasher to generate low 3. Recent Geothermal Steam Turbines
pressure steam. The low-pressure steam is then
supplied to the intermediate stage of the steam Fuji Electric has two types of geothermal steam
turbine. The bore size of stop valves and steam control turbines, a packaged type and a dual exhaust flow
valves for LP steam is normally very large, since the type. Packaged type turbines range up to 40MW in
capacity, and dual exhaust flow types range from
Fig.3 Mach number distribution at tip airfoil of LSB 55MW on up.
The packaged type turbines are completely pre-
assembled at the factory and are delivered as a single
package in order to reduce the onsite installation work.
The dual flow exhaust turbine is inspected at the
factory and then dissembled into parts, which are
small enough to be readily transported to the site, such
as the rotor and the upper and lower half of the casing.
The following describes geothermal steam turbines
recently put into the commercial operation.

(3)
3.1 Wayang Windu 110MW geothermal steam turbine
Figure 5 shows the cross section of the steam
turbine for the Wayang Windu Geothermal Power
Plant in Indonesia, which was put into the commercial
operation in June 2000. The turbine is of a single
flash, dual exhaust flow and single casing type. Major
specifications of the geothermal turbine are as follows:
(1) Inlet steam pressure: 1.02MPa
(2) Inlet steam temperature: 181°C

Fig.4 Triple eccentric butterfly valve Fig.5 Cross section of 110MW geothermal steam turbine for
Wayang Windu Geothermal Power Plant (Indonesia)

Sheet
Disk

Seal ring

Recent Technology of Geothermal Steam Turbines 125

(3) Condenser vacuum: 12kPa stress corrosion cracking (SCC). The large inertia
(4) Speed: 3,000 r/min weight of the drum type rotor ensures stable operation.
(5) Rated output: 110MW
The rated output of 110MW is the largest in the 3.2 Salton Sea 58.32MW geothermal steam turbine
world for a single casing geothermal steam turbine. Figure 6 shows a cross section of the 58.32MW
Previously, all installed geothermal turbines rated at geothermal steam turbine for the Salton Sea Unit 5
more than 100MW had been of the dual casing, geothermal power plant in the USA, which began
tandem compound type. commercial operation in August 2000. The plant
The advanced LP blades with a 27.4-inch LSB employs a triple flash system, that is, standard
enable the realization of a single casing 110MW pressure steam (SP), low pressure steam (LP) and very
geothermal turbine. low pressure steam (VLP) are supplied to the steam
Moving blades in the last 2 stages are free turbine. The Salton Sea Unit 5 geothermal steam
standing, without lacing wires on the airfoil. Absent of turbine is the first unit having triple inlet pressure.
bosses for lacing wires, the airfoil is free from any The plant employs a dual vacuum condenser, in
stress concentrations and deposits of corrosive compo- which one exhaust pressure differs from that of
nents. Furthermore, the vibration modes of free another one.
standing blades are so simple that natural frequencies (1) SP steam pressure : 0.86MPa
of the blades can be precisely predicted by calculation. (2) SP steam temperature : 174°C
As the result, the LP blades can operate without (3) LP steam pressure : 0.367MPa
limitation within ±5% of the 50Hz rated frequency. (4) LP steam temperature : 141°C
The blade row is composed of 8 double flow stages. (5) VLP steam pressure : 0.137MPa
The 1st through 5th stages are equipped with reaction (6) VLP steam temperature: 110°C
blades with an integral shroud. The blades with (7) High vacuum side exhaust pressure: 9.6kPa
integral shroud are free from any residual stresses (8) Low vacuum side exhaust pressure : 13kPa
that tend to be generated on riveted shroud blades. (9) Speed : 3,600 r/min
This is an advantage of the integral shroud blades. (10) Rated output: 58.32MW
Another advantage of the integral shroud blades is The SP steam enters the steam turbine from the
their good damping characteristics. bottom of the lower half casing through the stop valve
The 1st through 5th stage stationary blades are and the steam control valve. The LP steam enters the
installed in a stationary blade holder, which is divided intermediate stage of the steam turbine from both
into upper and lower halves. The upper and lower sides of the lower half casing through two steam
halves of the stationary blade holders are bolted to the control valves branched from a single stop valve. The
respective upper and lower halves of the outer casing. VLP steam enters from four inlet ports located on the
The upper and lower halves of the stationary blade upper half of both exhaust sides, through four steam
holders are also tightened by bolts at the horizontal control valves branched from two stop valves (Fig. 7).
joint flange in order to prevent steam leakage and The SP stop valve is a swing-check-type valve with
erosion of the horizontal joint flange. a 14-inch bore size. The LP and VLP stop valves are
The turbine rotor is of the non-concave, drum type, triple eccentric butterfly valves with 44-inch bore sizes.
so that no stress concentrations will be generated. The The 44-inch bore size is the largest size in the world for
shaft is formed from CrMoNiV forged steel, consisting butterfly valves of geothermal use. The SP steam
of relatively low nickel content in order to prevent control valve is a butterfly type valve with a 14-inch

Fig.6 Cross section of 58.32MW geothermal steam turbine for Fig.7 Casing upper half of geothermal steam turbine for
Salton Sea U5 (USA) Salton Sea U5

- +

126 Vol. 47 No. 4 FUJI ELECTRIC REVIEW

bore size, and the LP and VLP steam control valves are despite the pressure decrease.
butterfly type valves with 30-inch bore sizes. During In the re-powering modification, the original tur-
normal operation, the SP and VLP steam control bine casing and the bearing pedestals are used as is,
valves are used to control the corresponding inlet with no modification. The original rotor was employed
steam pressure, and the LP control valves are used to after exchanging the blade rows. The 1st through 5th
control the turbine load. blade rows (double flow) are replaced with new blade
The blade row is composed of 4 single-flow stages, rows re-designed conforming in accordance with the
followed by 5 dual-flow stages. The four single-flow specifications; the remaining LP blade rows of the last
stages and the next two dual-flow stages are equipped three stages (L-0 through L-2) are unchanged.
with integral shroud blades. The last three stages are Table 1 shows the major modified and replacement
equipped with advanced LP blades with a 26.2-inch parts.
LSB. In this modification, future decreases in the well
pressure was took into account.
4. Solutions for Decreased Production Well The new specifications taken the future decrease in
Pressure pressure into account are the following:
(1) Inlet steam pressure : 0.434MPa
Geothermal resources generally decline over a (2) Inlet steam temperature: 143°C
long-term operation, even when employing a re-injec- (3) Inlet steam flow: 124kg/s (NCG content: 0.4%)
tion system in which surplus hot water is injected back (4) Condenser vacuum : 10.2kPa
to the reservoir underground. (5) Number of blade rows : 2 (flow) × 7 stages
Two solutions where Fuji geothermal steam tur- (6) Speed : 3,600 r/min
bines have employed are described below: (7) Rated output: 51.4MW
The generator output decreases from 55.6MW to
4.1 NCPA U2 51.4MW due to the decreasing pressure of the produc-
The plant was put into commercial operation in tion well while the steam generation remains un-
1983. After more than 10 years of operation, the changed.
pressure of the production well had decreased. Origi- A future modification is simply to remove the 1st
nal specifications of the steam turbine are as follows: stage blade row from the rotor and the casing. This
(1) Inlet steam pressure : 0.799MPa can be performed quickly and at low cost.
(2) Inlet steam temperature: 169°C
(3) Inlet steam flow: 107.65kg/s (NCG content: 0.4%) 4.2 Palimpinon II
(4) Condenser vacuum : 10.2kPa Four geothermal steam turbines for Palimpinon II
(5) Number of blade rows : 2 (flow) × 8 stages in the Philippines were put into commercial operation
(6) Speed : 3,600 r/min in 1993 and 1994. Palimpinon II consists of Nasuji
(7) Rated output: 55MW Unit 1, Okoy Unit 1 and Sogongon Units 1 and 2.
The steam turbine was modified so that the Table 2 shows the specifications of these power
generator output can be maintained despite decreasing
well pressure. Table 1 Renewed and/or re-constructed parts and their details
Specifications of the steam turbine after modifica- for NCPA U2
tion are as follows. Parts Details
(1) Inlet steam pressure : 0.572MPa
1st to 5th stationary and moving blades,
(2) Inlet steam temperature: 157°C Blade
stationary blade rings were renewed.
(3) Inlet steam flow: 124kg/s (NCG content: 0.4%) The original rotor is applied, being milled
Rotor
(4) Condenser vacuum : 10.2kPa for 1st to 5th stage blade root.
(5) Number of blade rows : 2 (flow) × 8 stages Main stop & Stop valve and steam control valve were
(6) Speed : 3,600 r/min control valves replaced.
(7) Rated output: 55.6MW Steam strainer, Replaced steam strainer as well as inlet
inlet steam piping steam piping with larger size are employed.
As a result of increasing the steam generation of
An actuator of steam control valves is
the production well, the generator output of the Governor
modified.
modified unit became greater than the original output,

Table 2 Major specifications of the geothermal steam turbines in Palimpinon II district

Item Rated output Number of unit Main steam Main steam Exhaust steam Number of Main steam flow
Plant name (MW) (unit) pressure (MPa) temperature (°C) pressure (MPa) stage (stage) (kg/s)
Nasuji 20 1 0.57 162 0.0137 8 43.89
Okoy 20 1 0.77 174 0.0127 9 40.56
Sogongon 20 2 0.57 162 0.0137 8 43.89

Recent Technology of Geothermal Steam Turbines 127

Fig.8 Geothermal steam turbine blade row as well as rotor for Fig.9 Reduction of production well and pressure characteris-
Palimpinon II district tics of turbine blade row

∆ G : Increase in steam generation

Stationary blade holder ∆ P : Decrease in pressure

Blade row and rotor for Okoy ∆G

Steam flow
After removal of the 1st stage

∆P

(a) Pressure of production well

Blade row and rotor for Nasuji and Sogongon

plants. ∆G

Steam flow
The turbine inlet pressure of Okoy is higher than
that of the other two plants, and the turbine for Okoy
has 1 more stage than the other units. ∆P
The design philosophy is to maintain the generator
output of Okoy by removing the 1st stage blade row in
case there is a future decrease in production well (b) Pressure of production well
pressure (Fig. 8).
By removing (machining off) the 1st stage blade Steam generation vs. pressure of the original well
Steam generation vs. pressure of the declined well
row of the Okoy turbine, the turbine rotor will be Pressure characteristics of the original blade row
common among these three geothermal power plants. Pressure characteristics of the redesigned or original
blade row with removal of 1st stage
A spare rotor can be used in any of the four units.

4.3 Selection of the appropriate solution

As described above, two solutions are available to
maintain the generator output in case of a decrease in 5. Conclusion
production well pressure, removal of the 1st stage and
modification of the blade rows. Fuji’s geothermal steam turbines have consistently
Selection of the appropriate solution depends on evolved through employing state-of-the-art technolo-
the characteristics of the production well. gies developed for fossil fueled steam turbines as well
Figure 9 shows the pressure versus steam genera- as through improvements base on our wealth of
tion in the production well with inlet pressure versus experience with geothermal steam turbines. Should
steam flow of the turbine blade rows. production well pressure decrease in the future, two
When the pressure versus steam generation char- solutions are available to maintain generator output of
acteristic of the production well is similar to that Fuji Electric’s geothermal steam turbines.
shown in Fig. 9 (a) in which steam generation simply
increases with decreasing pressure, the large capital References
investment would pay off due to the increase in output (1) Huttrer, G.W. : The Status of World Geothermal Power
despite the decrease in well pressure. Generation 1995-2000, Proc. World Geothermal Con-
In this case, modification of the blade rows is gress 2000, p. 23-37 (2000)
selected to obtain greater output than that obtained by (2) Kato,Y. et al. : Progress of Geothermal Steam Turbine
just removing the 1st stage. Technology, Fuji Electric Review, Vol.42, No.2, p. 45-62
However, the large capital investment might not (1996)
pay off if the steam generation increases only moder- (3) Murakami, H. et al. : Construction of the Largest
ately as the pressure decreases [Fig. 9 (b)]. In such a Geothermal Power Plant for Wayang Windu Project,
case, removal of the 1st stage may be selected to Indonesia, Proc. World Geothermal Congress 2000,
maximize the generator output. p. 3239-3244 (2000)

128 Vol. 47 No. 4 FUJI ELECTRIC REVIEW

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