Kalistani Major History

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Ananto opens series of five High Temperature Geothermal Power Plants
KALENCON takes advantage of Anantonese thermals to power Island
SU River Facility, Ananto
October 8, 5206


The Su River Geothermal Plant, headwaters of the Su River in County Davon

North of Kaliburg, at the headwaters of the Su River, there is an interesting geothermal formation. It is one of many that dot the landscape of the Island. Under normal circumstances, these large clear pools of superheated water are treated as tourist destinations. They serve as the source of many of Ananto's rivers, cooling as they rush down the slopes of an ancient volcanic ranges of the Green, Davon and Xanadu Mountains that forms the backbone of the heart shaped Island. These hot springs are all that remains of the volcanic eruptions that formed the Island millions of years ago; the Volcanoes themselves are now heavily forested and are all extinct.

The Hot Springs may be remnants of the Island's geological past, but they are also serving to help power the future. At the Su River Springs, where the magma of the earth's mantle still rises close to the surface, KALENCON has opened one of five new facilities aimed at capturing the high temperatures in the water and using that to drive turbines to generate power. The Su River GtPP is the last of the five to open this month, completing its three year construction. The Plant, which will generate about 600 Mw of power a day will serve primarily Kaliburg- Port Davon and Dulnerstaad. Other Plants at Eveari River, the Six Sisters, Wilson Pass and Xanadu will serve Eveari, Bozo River, Dahriel, and Luxon and Xanadu respectively as well as the surrounding countryside, and will aim to lower the burden placed on the Fusion generators which seem to not be making efficiency gains needed to keep up with the growing demand for energy as the Island transitions away from hydrocarbons.

"We are glad to bring the Su River Plant online," said General Manager Carl West. "It is by far the largest of the five geothermal power generators on the island." West described the process of power generation at the Plant. "The plant is attacked to a deep well, drilled about 2-3 miles deep into a pocket of superheated ground water. This same underground reservoir naturally finds its way to the surface to create the hotsprings about three miles away. Usually the resevoir is replenished through rain water flowing in through cracks in the surface. BUt we pull the superheated fluid up and as it cools, it turns to steam. We run the superheated fluid through three separate depressurizing tanks here and each time it enters a new tank and cools, it releases steam. The steam drives those great turbines over there, and the steam itself is recondensed, combined with the now cool(er) geothermal fluid and it all runs over there where minerals are separated before it is pumped out of the plant and reinjected back into the reservoir to be reused."

The operation costs of the plant are anticipated to be paid for in recaptured minerals from the geothermal fluid. "In Ananto, we have calcites and silicates which can form some issues with our plant here should we supersaturate the resevoir by not stripping the minerals before reinjecting it into the reservoir. Luckily there is a market for these two minerals in Kalistan: The Silicates can be used to create microprocessors for consumer technology, and the calcium carbonate can serve as lime for the Republic's farms. In addition, we do receive marginal quantities of marketable minerals besides these two and we anticipate that at the current rate, we can satisfy a significant portion of domestic demand from our mineral separation operations." West noted that mineral extraction was important to prevent deposits from forming in the injection wells from mineral precipitation due to the cooling of super saturated geothermal fluid.

West noted that much of the operating cost of the plant comes with maintaining the pipes of the plant, but power generation and mineral recapture more than offsets the costs of operation. "Not only is this an absolutely clean, 100% renewable energy source which can heat and light whole cities, but it doesn't create any disturbance to the local ecology, it doesn't have any effect on surface water, and it doesn't disturb local wildlife. We create jobs for power plant technicians, and get to promote our green energy goals. There is only upside to these plants."

The five Geothermal plants produce about 2.65 GW of power a day, which is about 45% of Ananto's total demand plus reserve capacity. Geothermal is not available, however, for the Mainland, except in isolated spots in Neveras, due to the lack of geothermal formations close to the surface in most of the Mainland. It is estimated that one or two geothermal plants will be built in Neveras, but they will only supply about 20% of the duchy's total demand and reserve capacity.