GREENEARTH Energy says its subsidiary Pacific Heat and Power has been awarded a services contract with Newcrest Mining’s Lihir operations for geothermal brine testing services.
Pacific Heat and Power will evaluate the low temperature brine that is currently under-utilised, using a specially designed test rig.
This is part of Newcrest’s efforts to maximise the value from the geothermal heat resources that are available to them.
The results of the project will provide critical information required to select and design a Turboden Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system that maximises the geothermal power production, whilst minimising maintenance requirements and ensuring high reliability.
This is not a new application, as Turboden’s Organic Rankine Cycle equipment has been used elsewhere. One application, in Germany, operated on temperature sources similar to the temperature of brine at Lihir island.
Turboden’s range of equipment includes modular ORC units with high efficiency, ranging in sizes from 1MWe to 10MWe and scalable solutions for larger plants. Geothermal Turboden ORC can produce electricity from geothermal sources with medium to low temperature, ranging between 90°C – 180°C.