The importance of long-term well management in geothermal power systems using fuzzy control: A Western Anatolia (Turkey) case study

Effective geothermal power generation depends on two main elements: geothermal reservoir management and maintenance of the power plant. Reservoir management consists of both the fluid production and reinjection of brine to the underground. The management of wells is important to ensure the sustainability of the reservoir. Thus, the flow rate control systems are essential to protect geothermal reservoirs under long-term power production. The second issue is the daily change in electricity prices and the load change process is complex because geothermal well controls are not flexible operations. The well management thus requires control approaches, and fuzzy control can be one effective solution. In this study, a fuzzy control system has been developed to control flow rates of the wells in Kızıldere geothermal field and its performance has been compared with the real data taken from the Kızıldere Power Plant. The results of comparison show that the fuzzy controllers achieved the target energy production in 2 h instead of 5 h, compared to the real data. Based on the real data, the reinjection was only able to stabilize at the end of the fourth hour and the process took only 2 h when using the fuzzy controllers.