Description
The Geysers geothermal development spans an area of around 30 square miles (78 km2) in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties in California, located in the Mayacamas Mountains. Power from The Geysers provides electricity to Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Marin, and Napa counties. It is estimated that the development meets 60% of the power demand for the coastal region between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Oregon state line.
Steam used at The Geysers is produced from a greywacke sandstone reservoir, that is capped by a heterogeneous mix of low permeability rocks and underlaid by a silicic intrusion. Gravity and seismic studies suggest that the source of heat for the steam reservoir is a large magma chamber over 4 mi (7 km) beneath the ground, and greater than 8 mi (14 km) in diameter. Unlike most geothermal resources, the Geysers is a dry steam field, which means it mainly produces superheated steam. Because the power plant turbines require a vapor phase input, dry steam resources are generally preferable. Otherwise, a two-phase separator is required between the turbine and the geothermal wells to remove condensation that is produced with the steam. The Geysers complex is now recharged by injecting treated sewage effluent from the City of Santa Rosa and the Lake County sewage treatment plant. This effluent, which used to be discharged into waterways such as the Laguna de Santa Rosa, is now piped to the geothermal field where it replenishes the steam reservoir.
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