Posted on 09/17/2015 5:14:34 AM PDT by thackney
The ongoing California Valley fire sweeping across communities has destroyed or badly damaged five of Calpine’s power plants that part of the company’s large geothermal complex.
The wildfire has taken out several of the 14 geothermal power plants in the complex known as The Geysers, said Calpine Corp. spokesman Brett Kerr, but some of the remaining plants are still contributing electricity to the northern California region.
The cooling towers at five of the plants are damaged or destroyed, Kerr said, but the steam turbines are unharmed, which should allow for quicker repairs and replacements.
“We are confident we will have full capabilities restored in the coming months,” Kerr said Wednesday, declining to reveal any costs. “We don’t think it’ll be years.”
The Geysers, in 45 square miles along the Sonoma and Lake counties border, is the largest complex of geothermal power plants in the world. The Geysers complex has a net generating capacity of about 725 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power 725,000 homes, or a city the size of San Francisco.
Houston-based Calpine won’t say how many of the remaining nine power plants are currently running and at what capacity. Kerr said the company isn’t detailing which ones are damaged or destroyed.
“Some of those plants are still operating and sending electricity to the grid,” he said.
The Geysers represents 10 percent of the capacity of the Calpine’s total California fleet, Kerr said. The others, spread across the state, are all natural gas-fired power plants.
Calpine has 300 direct employees and 150 contractors at The Geysers and none were injured, Kerr said. About 90 of the Calpine workers had to flee their homes, and 10 have already reported their homes were damaged. Kerr said he expects that number to rise as more people return to assess their homes.
Calpine is assisting the workers and started program to match the donations given by Calpine employees who want to give money to help their colleagues.
http://www.geysers.com/geothermal.aspx
In the Mayacamas Mountains, located north of San Francisco, naturally occurring steam field reservoirs below the earth’s surface are being harnessed by Calpine to make clean, green, renewable energy for homes and businesses across Northern California.
The Geysers, comprising 45 square miles along the Sonoma and Lake County border, is the largest complex of geothermal power plants in the world. Calpine, the largest geothermal power producer in the U.S., owns and operates 14 power plants at The Geysers with a net generating capacity of about 725 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 725,000 homes, or a city the size of San Francisco.
The Geysers meets the typical power needs of Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties, as well a portion of the power needs of Marin and Napa counties. In fact, The Geysers satisfies nearly 60 percent of the average electricity demand in the North Coast region from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. The Geysers is one of the most reliable energy sources in California, delivering extremely high availability and on-line performance, and accounts for one-fifth of the green power produced in California.
Geothermal power is energy derived from the heat of the earth’s core. “Geo” means “from the earth” and “thermal” means “heat.” This type of energy is clean and predictable, offering a reliable and renewable energy source.
The Special Properties of Geothermal Sites
Drill deep enough and the earth is hot everywhere, but converting that heat to power is a challenge. Sites such as The Geysers, where the heat is close to the surface and deep rock layers are fractured to allow water to percolate through, are quite rare.
Great information as always from your posts. This site sounds like a real energy success story; I sure hope they can rebuild it, although a few months sounds optimistic. Thank goodness for redundant systems; I hope and pray it will be enough until the repairs are made. Great read, thanks.
Calpine is one of my clients. Had one of my people up there yesterday taking pics. Got into all but one unit. We lost a lot of equip up there. Area is still restricted, but we were allowed entry with our Calpine badges.
They want us to start some services around the clock starting today. That will be tough. 13,000+ people are burnt out and Red Cross has all nearby rooms.
Thanks for sharing the first=hand info!
Interesting.
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