Development of a 25MW Geothermal Power Plant full scope simulator based on a control system graphical modeling

This paper describes the development of an Operator Training Simulator (OTS) for the Geothermal Training Simulation Center (GTSC) of the Mexico´s Federal Commission of Electricity (CFE). The Department of Simulation (DS) of the Electrical Research Institute (IIE) developed this simulator using as reference the Unit IV of the Geothermal Power Plant Cerro Prieto, located at the north of Mexico. The Cerro Prieto 25 MW simulator was finished and delivered to GTSC in June 2007. This simulator is a high-fidelity real time dynamic simulator built and tested for accurate operation over the entire load range. The Cerro Prieto-IV simulator is a replica of the real power plant thanks to main characteristics of the Graphical Model of the Distributed Control System (DCS), and was used primarily for operator training although it has been used for procedure development and evaluation of plant transients.