OPERATIONAL BENEFITS FROM INDUSTRIAL

CLUSTERS FOR THE GEOTHERMAL SECTOR

Reynir Smári Atlason Rúnar Unnþórsson Guðmundur V. Oddsson

University of Southern

Denmark

University of Iceland University of Iceland

Our studies

A 3 year project funded by GEORG:

Efficient maintenance of geothermal power plants

Focus was on studying currently used maintenance

methods and to investigate approaches for more

efficient maintenance management.

Our studies

Our studies were based on real performance data,

interviews with power plant engineers and members

of the Icelandic geothermal cluster.

Project’s partners:

Our studies

Throughout several case studies we unfolded

some of the most evident benefits of a geothermal

industrial cluster for maintenance.

The results were published

• in Journals such as Geothermics and Energies,

• at ASME conferences (Power and IMECE),

• in two M.Sc. thesis and

• in one Ph.D. thesis

Our studies

In this presentation I will highlight the following three

topics from our studies:

• Maintenance improvements due to experience

• Maintenance improvements due to innovation

• Model of maintenance operations and development

Maintenance– improvements due to experience –

We found that

• Marine engineers who have served as chief

engineers on fishing vessels are preferred by the

power plants.

• As operational experience kicks in, it seems that

maintenance recommendations from producers

are over-ridden and experience leads the way.

2010(Q1) 2010(Q3) 2011(Q1) 2011(Q3) 2012(Q1) 2012(Q3)0

5

10

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25

Year of operation

Am

ount of m

ain

tenance

work

done

Experience overrides

recommendations

Here we have frequency

of wellhead maintenance

at Hellisheidi

Maintenance– improvements due to innovation –

We found that the “willingness to try” is a mixture of

several functions such as:

– a need for a solution,

– operational experience,

– staff confidence,

– individual drive and

– corporate tolerance towards potential failure.

Maintenance– improvements due to innovation –

Elli valve

Maintenance– improvements due to innovation –

Furthermore, disruptive events can cause a high

“willingness to try”; such as,

– a sudden change in oil prices.

– a sudden change in the currency exchange rate.

If the domestic knowledge and skills are sufficient

then the industry can react within short time,

– evidenced when OPEC raised oil prices rapidly in 1973.

– evidenced after the economic collapse in 2008.

A disruptive event sparks

geothermal innovation

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% change in oil price

Krafla power plant construction begins

Hitaveita Suðurnesja is established (HS Orka/Veitur)

Svartsengi plant construction begins

Svartsengi power plant

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USD and EUR against ISK

USD EUR

Hellisheiði power plant &

Reykjanes power plant

Nesjavellir power plant

EUR/ISK

USD/ISK

Maintenance– improvements due to innovation –

Svartsengi power plant

Conditions in 2008 for the Power plants– A geothermal industrial cluster was already present

– Maintenance knowledge and skills were available in

Iceland

– maintenance and specialized tasks where mainly

outsourced; e.g. rotor maintenance

– Exchange rate of the USD and EUR to ISK

increased significantly

– Outsourcing maintenance became very expensive

Maintenance– improvements due to innovation –

Reactions

– Focus shifted towards formalizing the

geothermal cluster and building up

infrastructure, knowledge and skills.

Maintenance– improvements due to innovation –

• Through close collaboration with

machining shops major maintenance

was carried out in short time

• No operational problems occurred

during following years

Maintenance– improvements due to innovation –

Model of maintenance operations

and development

Thank you