[mjx0]

Out of ignorant curiosity: I’ve heard that an anticipated problem of renewables is overproduction. i.e.: generators produce too much electricity, causing the grid frequency to exceed tolerance.

How does one throttle a geothermal plant? Are these geothermal plants operating turbines, and thus are throttled by redirecting steam away from the turbines?

[megaman821]

Couldn't they just not inject as much water into the injection hole? Then presumably the steam hole would stop making steam.

[pfdietz]

This sort of system has a kind of built-in storage. It can overproduce steam for a while, if needed, even if that level of steam production is not sustainable in steady state. This is nice for countering some short-term variability of other renewable sources, particularly solar.

[idiotsecant]

You're constantly throttling a steam turbine by admitting more or less steam.