Applicant's preferred embodiment utilizes municipal wastewater effluent to replenish a depleted geothermal field. Condensate produced by expanding steam produced in the geothermal field through a steam turbine-generator may be pooled with cooked water collected from said field, and then directed through a penstock from a higher elevation to a lower elevation where further energy is extracted through a traditional hydroelectric turbine-generator. The cooked water and condensate may be treated to produce potable water and/or distributed for public consumption either before or after being directed to the hydroelectric turbine-generator. The effluent is pumped up to the geothermal field during off-peak periods of electric consumption, and the hydroelectric generation is accomplished during periods of peak electric demand. A fraction of the effluent may be used as cooling water for the steam turbine-generator and its associated condenser before injection into the geothermal field. At least a portion of the pipeline to transport the wastewater effluent is preferably routed along an undisturbed riverbed and/or through an excavated tunnel.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a Continuation Ser. No. 10/200,993 filed Jul. 22, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,862,886 and Ser. No. 09/836,967 filed Apr. 17, 2001 now abandoned.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/969,712, filed on Nov. 14, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,463 entitled "A METHOD OF COMBINING WASTE WATER TREATMENT AND POWER GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES", which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/545,110, filed on Oct. 19, 1995 entitled "A METHOD OF COMBINING WASTE WATER TREATMENT AND POWER GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES", now abandoned.
