The plant utilizes a geothermal high enthalpy resource, exploiting the heat available both in steam flow and geothermal brine. For this project located in a remote site, in the center of Terceira Island, 1500 Km from the Portuguese mainland, the Consortium EXERGY - CME supplied a turnkey solution, including the engineering and construction of the gathering systems, the air cooled Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) unit and other plant equipment.
Marco Bonvini COO of EXERGY, said: “We are very proud of the successful completion of this challenging project. Pico Alto represents for us a great example of how innovation in greentech can provide sustainable solutions to satisfy people energy needs and contribute in improving the energy economics in remote and isolated site of the planet.”
Pico Alto has reached the highest possible conversion efficiency producing up to 4.9 MW of electricity, with an average of 4.5 MW.
By means of Pico Alto geothermal plant, EDA Renováveis is now providing electricity to more than 56,000 inhabitants of Terceira.
Carlos Alberto Raposo Bicudo Ponte, member of EDA Renováveis Board of Directors declared: “The Pico Alto Geothermal Power Plant inauguration is the first milestone for the commercial geothermal exploitation start up in Terceira Island, increasing the diversification of the power generation mix and boosting the contribution from renewables.. For the first two months of operation, the Pico Alto power plant has been providing a stable and reliable supply of 4 MW of electricity to the grid. Maintaining this high performance in 2018, the annual production of Pico Alto power plant will likely surpass the estimative made before the construction of the power plant.”
Photo courtesy Exergy
