Optimal utilization of geothermal energy at the University of Oradea, Romania

Abstract

The University of Oradea and the National Geothermal Research Centre, as part of the university, plan to create a national demonstration and research geothermal power plant emphasizing on geothermal energy utilization and control engineering. This paper proposes a way to achieve this aim in two steps. In the first step, the existing geothermal installation will be modernised by installing a deep well pump, programmable logic controllers (PLC) and a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition System (SCADA). In the second step, a solution for cascaded use is proposed, in order to increase the utilization efficiency. Based on the technical calculations presented, it is possible to estimate the behaviour of the whole geothermal system from the point of view of geothermal energy consumption. By using SCADA control system and its data collection facilities, it is possible to search for the optimal strategy for the geothermal utilization.