Managing Sustainable Design for Geotherm

The fast pace of project development, design, and execution of power generation projects, together with the nature of Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) contracts popular in the industry and to banks, often make sustainability considerations a grudging afterthought to the contractor or owner. Although careful consideration of technical, environmental, and social impacts may have been part of the up-front permitting process, the control wielded by skilled engineers during the detailed design process, if implemented in an educated and structured fashion with the owner, and in an EPC environment, with buy-in from the contractor, can result in plant designs that better benefit the local community in dimensions beyond thermal efficiency. This paper will present a structured review process developed by the authors, which is targeted toward the specific considerations of geothermal power projects. This procedure may be applied to other renewable projects, especially those with similarly complex processing systems such as biofuel refineries or solar thermal projects. The review process is performed with the owner and is documented to demonstrate upon completion the project's commitment to sustainable principles.