Press Information
Eavor and Turboden have entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) that enables the companies to integrate their technologies to optimize systems for cost-effective energy distribution. This agreement is an essential element of Eavor’s efforts to scale its technology and reduce manufacturing costs. In the first phase, an integrated optimization workflow of Eavor-Loop™ and Turboden ORC was developed for baseload energy.
This past July, Turboden was introduced as a supplier for the Eavor power plant in Geretsried, Bavaria. As part of this commercial agreement, Turboden is building a cogeneration plant that converts geothermal energy into electricity for local power distribution.
“We have rather ambitious plans for growth, and ORC systems like Turboden’s will enable us to achieve that growth. We need systems like these to make our energy projects a reality. This is how we work out together how to scale them up, reduce the costs, and manufacture them at a much larger scale,” said Michael Holmes, Eavor’s vice president of systems engineering and strategy.
“We have an outstanding partnership. Turboden is supplying the power system for our first commercial project in Germany, which we are currently implementing in Geretsried.”
The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a closed thermodynamic cycle that converts heat into electricity. These systems are capable of using various sources such as biomass, geothermal energy, solar energy, waste heat from industrial processes, waste incinerators, engines, or gas turbines to generate electricity. Turboden has installed this technology in over 400 plants worldwide.
“It’s similar to a steam engine. Eavor-Loops™ generate heat in the range of 100–200 °C, which only produces a small amount of steam and the efficiency of the facility remains relatively low. In the ORC process, on the other hand, a working fluid with a lower boiling point is used, which is heated and vaporized. This steam is then passed through a turbine that generates electricity, is then cooled back into a liquid and subsequently pumped back up at high pressure. It is a closed circuit of its own,” says Holmes.
Eavor estimates that this 8.2 MWe project will provide electricity for 20,000 households, not only creating 600 person-years of jobs in drilling services, infrastructure and power plants, but also avoiding greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 44,000 t CO2e per year.
