Mobile ORC demonstration
Name: Hisaralan-Sındırgı Geothermal Field
Location: Balıkesir (NW Turkey)
Project status: In exploitation
Owner: Enerjikan Enerji Üretim A.Ş
Operator: Balıkesir Municipality
MEET Partner in contact with site: Enogia
Key figures
Number of wells: 2, in addition to natural hot springs. (In the MEET project, HS-2 well, which was drilled by Turkish Petroleum in 1989, will be used.)
Year of commissioning: 2014 (for district heating system) Current number of Residence Equivalent (RE): 2500 (one RE equals 100 m2 heated area) Subscription: 1402 (EKB, 2019)
Production temperature, flow rate: 103°C, 35 l/s
Potential capacity added by MEET: 40 kW of electricity production. It will be the first electricity production from geothermal resources in Balıkesir city.
Site description
Hisaralan is a significantly active geothermal site located in Sindirgi District, 50 km southeast of Balikesir City Center. It has a series of hot springs and travertine depositional landscapes . In the MEET project, a 40 kW ORC unit will be demonstrated in Balıkesir. This will be the first electricity production from geothermal resources in the city. In the future commercial electricity production is aimed with an installed capacity of 11 MWe as Enerjikan received an associated licence for it in December 2021.
Highlights of the research
This research will contribute to the dissemination of the small scale electricity production from low to mid enthalpy geothermal resources. Transferring the output of this research and the accumulated know-how at regional scale to the similar geological settings around the world will help to combat the climate crisis in the long run by decarbonization of electricity production..
It will be the first electricity production from geothermal resources in the city of Balıkesir. Diversity in energy supply with domestic resources provides more energy security.
With the addition of the Balıkesir field to the demonstration sites within the Meet project, a wide range of main rock types will be examined as a geothermal reservoir (volcanic (extrusive igneous) sites at the Grásteinn and Krauma fields in Iceland, sedimentary rocks at the Chaunoy and Cazaux fields in France, granite (intrusive igneous rock) at the Soultz-Sous-Forêts area in France and recrystallized limestone in flysch zone (ophiolites) in Balıkesir.)
This demonstration will enable the company to test the electricity production and observe it at small scale before they proceed to 11 MWe electricity production of which was licenced in December 2021.
Location map of Hisaralan
To know more
About hydrothermal alteration in the region: Kocabaş, C., Tokçaer, M., Çolak, M. (2016). Clay Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Fossil and Active Hydrothermal Alteration in the Hisaralan Geothermal Field (Sındırgı‐Balıkesir), western Turkey. Afyon Kocatepe University Journal of Sciences and Engineering. 16. 132-154. 10.5578/fmbd.10852.
About travertine depositional morphologies at Hisaralan: Özkul, M., Gökgöz, A., Yüksel, A. K. (2019) Travertine Spring Towers as Rare Depositional Morphologies in Geothermal Fields: An Example from the Hisaralan Geothermal Area (Sındırgı, Balıkesir, NW Turkey), Proceedings International Earth Science Colloquium on the Aegean Region, IESCA-2019, İzmir, Türkiye.
About the current district heating system: Parlaktuna, M., Çelem, Ö., Parlaktuna, B. (2021): Evaluation of Geothermal District Heating Systems of Turkey, Proceedings World Geothermal Congress 2020+1, Reykjavik, Iceland.
The basement rock is the Mesozoic (Late Cretaceous) aged-ophiolitic complex which consists of serpentinite and marble. This ophiolitic complex is overlain by Early-Pliocene andesites, tuffs and volcanic units. Plio-Quaternary aged quartz-porphyry, agglomerate and Quaternary alluvium unconformably overlies all the units. The intersection of NE-SW and NW-SE trending normal faults formed the graben in the region. Reservoirs are Mesozoic aged ophiolites and fault zones.
Hisaralan geothermal system and units
To know more
Gökgöz, A., Mutlu, H., Özkul, M., Yüksel, A.K., (2021) Multiple fluid-mineral equilibria approach to constrain the evolution of thermal waters in the Hisaralan geothermal field, Simav Graben, western Turkey. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences. 30: 182-203. 10.3906/yer-2007-14
Hisaralan thermal waters with a total discharge of at least 86 l/s are used for spa and greenhouse (total area of 4943 m2) heating and balneological purposes.
In the area, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (Ankara,Turkey) drilled an exploration well to a depth of 881 m, which produced water at a temperature of 106°C and discharge of 32 l/s. Waters from this well are currently used for house heating (for a total of 1300 residences in the town of Sındırgı) and thermal baths.
With the innovative small scale ORC module of Enogia, it will be the first electricity production from geothermal resources in the city of Balıkesir. In the framework of MEET, additional electricity will be generated at low temperature with a mobile ORC unit. In surface equipment, corrosion and scaling phenomena will be investigated in order to find adequate metallurgy, exploitation conditions and inhibitors to ensure a sustainable geothermal exploitation. Thus a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable way of operation is targeted for the region.
Balıkesir HS-2, EHS-1 well and discharges