Why are geothermal plant pipelines usually kept short?

Geothermal power plant pipelines are typically kept short—generally limited to approximately 1.6 km (1 mile) in length—primarily to minimize heat loss during the transport of steam or hot water from the wells to the facility.1

Maintaining these shorter distances ensures that the thermal energy extracted from the geothermal reservoir is delivered to the turbine generators as efficiently as possible, preserving the energy required for electric power generation.12