The Economics of Wet Versus Dry Cooling for Combined Cycle

Abstract

The privatization of the British power generation industry has been accompanied by a major change in the technology employed in power station construction. Large coal- or oil-fired steam stations based on the Rankine cycle have been superseded for the moment by gas-fired combined cycle stations. Of equal significance has been the change from large concrete hyperbolic cooling towers to low profile mechanical draught towers, or even air-cooled condensers. This paper examines the technoeconomic factors that have led to the shift in cooling system design and assesses the factors that will dictate the direction of future cooling system designs.