(GP/GT) for Additional Water Supply in the Lower Rio Grande

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MODULAR POWER PLANTS FOR GEOPRESSURED RESOURCES
Michael D. Forsha
Barber-Nichols Inc.
6325 W. 55th Ave.
Arvada, CO 80002
303-421-8111
This paper gives an overview of modular power plants for
geopressured resources and presents estimates for installed
equipment costs and revenue produced with a representative
geopressured resource.
The modular power plant utilizes process equipment that is
skid-mounted and has been assembled, wired, and plumbed at the
factory. Field installation requirements can be limited to
plumbing the resource to and from the module and making the power
connections to the distribution grid. For larger installations,
several skids may be required and interskid connections would be
made in the field.
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The main advantages of modularized plants are as follows:
Quick project completio'n; the plant can be on line six
months ARO.
Designed for wellhead operation; this approach is
particularly well suited to geopressured resources that
require high pressure geofluid piping between the well
and the plant.
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Designed with fully automated control system; eliminates
the need for a full time operator.
Module can be moved to new wells if resource productivity
decays.
A modular plant for a geopressured resource will have
equipment that· can tap all three potential revenue streams of the
resource (see Figure 1).
1. A hydraulic pressure let-down turbine will produce
electrical power by reducing the pressure of the geofluid
coming from the well. The hydraulic turbine discharges
a mixture of natural gas, stearn, and hot water.
2. The natural gas can generate revenue by:
2.1 Cleaning it to pipeline standards and selling it
directly.
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