Using the Paratunsky geothermal field to provide heating for Kamchatka

Abstract

The Paratunsky geothermal field has been in operation since 1964, mostly in a self-flowing mode, with a discharge rate of approximately 250 kg/s of thermal water at temperatures of 70–90°С (47 Mw, with the waste water having a temperature of 35°С). The water drawn from the field is used for local heating, spa heating, and for greeneries in the villages of Paratunsky and Termal’nyi (3000 residents). The potential market of thermal energy in Kamchatka includes Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii (180000 residents), Elizovo (39 000), and Vilyuchinsk (22 000). The heat consumption in the centralized heating systems for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii is 1 623 000 GCal per annum (216 Mw). A thermohydrodynamic model developed previously is used to show that the Paratunsky geothermal reservoir can be operated in a sustainable mode using submersible pumps at an extraction rate of as much as 1375 kg/s, causing a moderate decrease in pressure (by no more than 8 bars) and temperature (by no more than 4°С) in the reservoir. Additional geothermal sources of heat energy may include the Verkhne-Paratunsky and Mutnovsky geothermal fields.