ABSTRACT
Small geothermal power plants have been defined as those that can generate less than 5 MWe (Lund and Boyd 1999, Vimmerstedt 1999). The advantage of small power plants is that they can utilize low-enthalpy geothermal fluids in conjunction with Kalina cycle or ORC binary power generation units. It is estimated that 1 MWe plant could serve about 20,000 households (Cabraal et al. 1996) assuming that the demand for electricity per person at off-grid sites will be of the order of 0.5 kW. In the past it was difficult to get financial support for such power plants due to the high cost compared to large plants (Lund and Boyd 1999). But due to inherent problems that large urban areas are facing with respect to land, water, and power, much of the future infrastructural development in developing countries will be in rural areas, creating huge economic development. It is then unlikely that such small power plants would face financial problems in the next decades. A list of power plants generating <5 MWe in different countries is shown in Table 10.1.
