九大地熱・火山研究報告第 11 号 (2002) 16-24 頁

COUNTRY REPORT - GUATEMALA
H. Fernando Navas A.

INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

There are about 20 Countries in the called Lava Fire Belt of the World, most of which are economicallyunderdeveloped, that have the geological conditions to take advantage of such natural situation to assist theiroverall social and economic development by the use of geothermal energy.
Geothermal Energy is both, a renewable resource, and ecologically friendly as well. Considered to be of little
ambiental impact, like hydro, wind and solar energies. Therefore the whole World needs to strengthen all efforts
to benefit from this available energy. And in turn, to responsibly contribute to limit dangerous and unwanted
results like contamination and global warming, usually associated to fossil fuel combustion.
The direct use, Geothermal technology for Electric Power Generation is being developed and produced formarkets use, by developed Countries like USA, Japan and Israel. There are also several categories of thesetechnologies or systems - dry steam; water dominated; 2 phase; and binary
Each Country site has different geothermal reservoir characteristics, after these have been properly evaluated andconsidered, decisions have to be made by its government and private officials to select the type and size of system
to be used. This paper introduces a discussion for 2 different management issues: O&M and M&E. It presents adifferent angle for modern management of geothermal power stations in a Foreign Country.
This paper is special since is introduced under "Country Report", but is not a general presentation of the National
Institution for Electrification of Guatemala, INDE; which will, I hope, also find a good use for these concepts andtools in the near future National geothermal projects, like Amatitlan, as well as any other National and private
Institution that believes that modern tools of management can improve decisively over the daily, and long term
optimization of results.
In my opinion enough good formal technical books have already been written about the background ofgeothermal power plants, general systems, geophysical models, techniques and locations, in multiplepublications. Although not so for management issues.
For practical and obvious reasons, no consideration is to be given here to several shorter phases of a geothermalpower plant development. Meaning, technical, legal and contractual aspects related to the exploration anddrilling or procurement, construction, commissioning and acceptance of a new power station.
Acknowledgement is due here to Kyushu University professors, JICA and West JEC, who have provided support
to all related activities in Japan.

8 Calle 17-15, Colonia El Maestro 2, GUATEMALA
Email: hfnavasjapon@hotmail.com

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COUNTRY REPORT - GUATEMALA(Part A)
MODERN MANAGEMENT OF OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A
GEOTHERMAL POWER STATION IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
ABSTRACT
After completing the expensive and scientific, first stage process of Research and Development (R&D) of new
geothermal power conversion technology, It is surely an enormous effort and more investment required for thecompanies and organizations that are working in the following stage of manufacturing the final approved designfor production. Both of these 2 stages are usually an important economic strength, limited only to developedCountries. Not only for the financial costs, but more importantly for the knowledge required as well. See Figure 3.
The Plan: When the final product is introduced and presented to the market, then we can enter the role of thedeveloping Countries, that procure the new technology, with self means or loaned financing, and begin to try tomaximize its exploitation, during the expected useful life of the equipment.
The Problem: That above is the ideal situation, but in reality, for most of the cases the new technology acquired,when operated and maintained, is neither maximum exploited nor used during the expected full time cycle of it.
The Result, consequently, the goods, products or services that the technology is supposed to provide in theunderdeveloped Country falls short. Further is not economic to use, and ends being replaced before its expected
life production is reached. That result is easily viewed and even recognized.
The Solution: This paper aims to present 2 tools for discussion, in the specific application of geothermal power
plants, that convert heat energy into electrical energy: A) through the use of management techniques for attaining
optimum technology transfer, considering the special coupling needs, due to cultural reasons, of the people thatwill do the daily routine work of O&M, operations & Maintenance. B) A Monitoring & Evaluation System
M&E, for Optimization of long term Results, with control, and required adjustments.
This, of course can only be realized when the adequate policies and norms are already formally in place and,support by government and private high level decision makers.
A final comment to this part, about how to organize and manage a geothermal power station in a foreign country,
is that it can also be implemented in present operations in Japan, where a plant manager of operations would
be the responsible person to implement it, and most probably about 90% of the work will continue to be in thesame manner as it currently is. But is precisely the little changes of 10% of the activities or less, that will betransformed into a better control of O&M, and Optimization of Results.
1. DEFINITION - Technology transfer

proper level of technology transfer, as well as beprepared to receive it by the qualified personnel also.

By technology transfer it can be said to be of either of
2 forms:

Failure to serious approach about this matter willinvariably hinder and put limitations to the economic
exploitation and maximum production of the systemselected, therefore not reaching expected production,
nor useful equipment life, nor quality standards,
nor economies expected, as it would happen if thesystem is installed and operated by the manufacturingorganization, or in a developed Country, wheretechnology is understood and maintenance is wellfunded and performed.

1.The knowledge of a process - i.e. mathematical,
use of software, administrative tool.
2.Specific knowledge related to a new productdeveloped- i.e. O&M recommendations, or service
parameters needed to calibrate and adjust.
A buyer of technology should carefully include allcontractual obligations from the seller to obtain a17

H. Fernando Navas A.

Unfortunately, inn the developing countries thissituation is too often still repeated after so many
examples of previous experiences, sayings like "badluck with our machine", or "do not know why it brokein just 2 years", or "the personnel did not understand",are all not acceptable.

administrative issues, or management techniques.
This paper is for the presentation, based of anindividual and independent management experience,
to model a quite useful manner to systematicallyorganize the Geothermal Power Plant.
For the systematic management and organization ofeach geothermal power plant, there are 4 defined areasof work, in order to have a smooth administration
during routine Operations & Maintenance Operations
O&M:

Another typical form of negligence is when notenough attention is given to know and learn about thereal quality of the technology system components,
besides from the design.
2. ORGANIZATIONAL MATRIX OF A POWER

These groups have to work, following management
planning and approval, which should be based on
criteria of technology level (High Medium Low) in thepower station and its specific technical requirements.

STATION - Technical and Administrative

A safe and sure way to optimize the O&M Operationsof a Geothermal Power Plant, is to use the tools
developed for quality tackling of technical andOf course, each of these groups will interact their

FOUR AREAS IN POWER STATION  ANY SIZE
From 100`s to 1,000`s of KW
��Area 1: Geothermal field or Steam Generation  Usually the largest area of land that includes theproduction and reinjection wells, separators, rock mufflers, control valves and transportation relatedpiping.

��Area 2: Energy Converting Equipment  is the area where is located the selected technology toconvert energy from thermal to electric.
Including the turbines and generators, condensers,pumps.

��Area 3: Switching Devices and Electric Power Substation  is to receive and handle safely thegross electrical power produced by the geothermal power plant, as well as being the interconnection
point with the high voltage grid.

��Area 4: Controls and Auxiliary Equipment: -FOUR CATEGORIES OR GROUPS OF STAFF IN A POWER STATIONANY SIZE� Management
� Administration
� Operations
� Maintenance18

COUNTRY REPORT - GUATEMALA

4. SET ALL OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS - Includes

activities in coordination with the other groups, aswell as covering the 4 areas of the Geothermal PowerPlant.

Quality, Safety and Environment

In addition to having clear rules for routine andexceptional activities of all groups of personnel for
O&M operations, supervision or quality, reservoir
and environmental issues should be addressed as
special parameters to be complied with. This can bein a weekly manner. i.e. priorities, goals and expected
situation of the period, warning signs, safety andprevention, emergency preparedness, etc.

3. ADOPTION OF O&M - Norms, Procedures

Is necessary to have established a clear set of written
regulatory norms, rules and regulations for daily
routine and exceptional activities in each Geothermal
Power Station. These are to be applied to all personnel
categories, and may require special adaptations ofactivities and training for each group.

Fo r ex a m p l e , a b o u t e nv i r o n m e n t a l a s p e c t s ,atmospheric discharges of uncondensed gases, orresidual waters discharge, maintenance residues,training, plus an important coordination with accident
and fire prevention. Parameters should be set andapproved, for acceptable emissions of air, water, soil,residues, noise and vibrations.

Based on the specified norms and regulations thepersonnel will carry out all daily actions. Including
power delegation and decision making process,usually needed very fast, in exceptional situations.
For example of routine operations, logbook andforms, and that all plant generating and auxiliary
equipment are responsibility of the operations shift,unless maintenance is working on any unit and has not
returned the control to operations.

Ecological protection in all the surrounding area.
Animals, plants, landscape.
A final comment to this part, about how to organize
and manage a geothermal power station in a foreign
Country, is that it can also be implemented inpresent operations in Japan, where a plant mangerof operations would be the responsible person to
implement it, and most probably about 90 % of thework will continue to be in the same manner.

Maintenance for example, routinely has the workload
divided in 3 levels of technology complexity - high,medium and low. All the low technology complexity
work is to be done in house (70% of total), themedium complexity is to be handled with wellcoordinated local support and supply (25%); and all
the high complexity is to be contracted outside, either
the original manufacturer or suitable competitor (5 %).

But is precisely the little changes of 10 % of theactivities or less, that will be transformed into a better
control of O&M, and Optimization of Results.

After all, the manager is not necessarily on site
physically 24 hrs/day. See Figure 2.

19H. Fernando Navas A.

A1A3A2A4

AREA% or #AREA 1

AREA 2

AREA 3

AREA 4¥hiredpeople

Wells &Energy
Conversion&Generation

Switchyard& Electric
Grid
Connection

Controls
forAutomation&Auxiliaries

CATEGORYOPERATION

Field

48%
12 p

MAINTENANCE

40%
10p

ADMINISTRATION

12%3p

MANAGEMENT

8%2Fig. 1

Organizational Matrix for the Operation and Maintenance O&M Phase of a
Geothermal Power Station

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COUNTRY REPORT - GUATEMALACAPITAL HUMAN ASSETSGROWTH POTENTIALCAPITAL TECHNOLOGYFIXED1Hi

2 AdminMedium

3 Maintenance

Low TechnologyFig. 2

4 Operations

The Operation & Maintenance O&M Technology �omplexity Triangle

Phase

R&D
ResearchDevelopment

Main
Characteristic

New Idea
DesignWorking Model
Prototype
Manufacturing
Marketing&EXPLOITATION
Procurement
O&M

EXCHANGE
Monitoring &Evaluation

Selection/Tech Specs
Adoption
Training
Widely usedOperation
Maintenance

Overall Results
Monitoring
Evaluation
Recycling
Replacement

R&D

99 % by developed Countries.
1 % by underdeveloped Countries.

Exploitation

25 % efficiency by underdeveloped Countries.
25 % never started to operate for lack of knowledge. High tech.
25 % stopped early for lack of maintenance knowledge. High + Medium tech.
25 % stopped early for lack of proper funding for corrective replacement.

M&E

Last phase should also be reflecting a clear definition of Indicators and Reports, includingsummaries of routine operational information M A M O, as well as indicators concerning
the external factors of Reservoir and Environment.

Fig. 3

Technology Development Process

Triangle for �eothermal power conversion equipment

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H. Fernando Navas A.

(Part B)MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEM (M&E) OF LONG TERMRESULTS OF A GEOTHERMAL POWER STATIONABSTRACT
M&E is a sometimes forgotten cyclic management task, to evaluate and monitor the long-term macro or overall
Results expected for a geothermal power station, in order to optimize them in a control closed loop like fashion.
In a clearly different contrast with daily routine O&M operations.
Always, is more convenient that an independent entity be given this important responsibility assignment, in order
to be out of management control that could prefer to skew or curve the findings, and likewise different from thegroup involved in daily O&M operations.
The Plan: The Monitoring and Evaluation tool is a management function that compliments the daily operational
functions of quality production. Is not to be mixed, nor overlapped in any form. Its purpose is to Optimize theResults of the power station operation. Is easy to visualize as a closed control loop. Results can be defined ofdifferent nature as technical, financial, market, administrative / management.
Important parts of the M&E system are: The Evaluation chart, to compare to a given base; the properly defined
Indicators, to measure the results consistently and systematically; and the defined Reports contents andperiodicity.
The Problem: When M&E is not properly attended there is a risk to get too much involved in daily situations andmissing the important macro view of the power station expected Results and timely adjustments.
The Result: This means that in consequence, no attentions is paid to problems that daily O&M will not be able
to solve when they arrive, because these problems, are only visible in overall tendencies and projections of many
months or years. As examples of technical aspects there are reservoir conditions, scaling in reinjection wells,
and environmental issues.
The Solution: To present a technical tool that will assist and be the basic support to make the required timely
management decisions based on M&E findings.
1. DIFINITION - M&E

attention is required.

○ The eyes for monitoring the Optimized Results are○ A Reporting System needs to be established,

the Indicators.

defining the periodicity, and contents of eachreport. Monthly, Quarterly, Mid Year, Annual.

○ Definition of Indicators for a geothermal power○ The M&E Reports for management, are definitely

station. Table in next section

not like a public relations brochure, or a cosmetic
look at the O&M operations, in fact is quite realand explaining the problems encountered.

○ The Evaluation is a process to compare the realtime obtained indicators with the expected levels,
during a specific period. According to a tableprepared early each year. And approved by the
directors of the company.

○ Therefore is a management need to makecorrections, steering, decisions, or praises ifappropriate.

○ Analysis is the next step to understand the reason○ The reports will also include the timely measures

for the deviations obtained. Suggest reasons forthe found deviations, raise a flag if concern andalready taken as well as adjustments required in22

COUNTRY REPORT - GUATEMALA○ It may be considered, and is more convenient tothe future to continue the improving of results.
Both, for daily O&M activities, as well as for longterm goals.

have the M&E Reports prepared by an independentsource from O&M control, to avoid curving offindings, and be more objective.

2. ADOPTION OF M&E INDICATORS . Norms, Procedures

INDICATORSDAILY O&M ROUTINE
ACTIVITIES OR QUALITY CONTROL
Activities for 20,000 KW
��O&M
A1. Separator
A1. Well valves
A2. Turbine
A2. Generator
A2. Condenser
A2. Cooling tower
A3.
A4. All control and auxiliary equipment ischecked and exercised periodically��M&E
o Indicators & Reports

OVERALL M&E
RESULTS
Optimized Results are all met and satisfied
��TECHNICAL availability
��MARKET daily change
��FINANCIAL payments
��ADMINISTRATIVE / MANAGEMENT��AVAILABILITY  to know generation
POWER
ENERGYHRS / UNIT
HRS / PERSONINVOICE
AGREED DISTRIBUTION CURRENTOwners
BankersPartners
O&M
M&E

RESERVOIR
Pressure
Temperature
Enthalpy
Chemical
ENVIRONMENT
WaterAirGas
Soil
NoiseVibration
MARKET INFORMATIONTAXESPERMITSAUTHORITY COORDINATIONANALYSIS
OPTIMIZATIONPERIOD REPORT

Additionally, any Indicator can be adjusted as necessary, every year, and have up to 6 dimensions (period, timeplace, quantity, characteristic, description, cost) to make them more objective and easy to follow up.

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H. Fernando Navas A.

FINAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

the new tools and techniques available. For theoptimization of overall results for new Geothermal
Power Stations, and as well as for existing operations.

To strengthen the support for research anddevelopment of management tools and techniques,
which are valuable for technology related projects,
such as a Geothermal Power Station, as complement
to engineering that alone does not guarantee optimalresults.

Compliment the expertise of engineering experience
with management methods for optimization fromadministration and planning proven techniques. To
assure optimized results, and less problems.

Continue to develop the sound knowledge andtechniques of management and administration ofGeothermal Power Stations in accordance withTest the above M&E, control loop, for optimization ofresults in a presently existing operation. Defining theappropriate indicators and reporting system.

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