Deep Direct-Use for Industrial Applications: Producing Chilled Water for Gas-Turbine Inlet Cooling

Direct use of deep, low-temperature geothermal resources is underutilized due to challenging project economics associated with developing a deep geothermal resource for what are historically small-scale, variable-demand projects. This project assesses the feasibility of geothermal energy integration in natural-gas combined cycle power stations in the Sabine Uplift and Gulf Coast regions of Texas. The low-grade geothermal resource is tapped to drive absorption chillers for production of chilled water at 5-10°C (41-50°F). This chilled water is stockpiled and dispatched to provide turbine inlet cooling (TIC) at the inlet to the compressor of a natural-gas combined cycle power plant, thereby boosting power production during periods of high temperature and high-power demand. This presentation focuses on the system design related to geothermal well-site selection (proximity vs. resource quality), absorption chiller size and location, chilled-water storage capacity, and dispatch logic to realize the maximum financial benefit.