Combined Cycle Power Plant Design Research Articles

Institute Teploelektroproyekt - 105 years in the service of the country's energy industry

The article is devoted to the 105th anniversary of Institute Teploelektroproyekt. Thermal power plants built according to the Institute's designs over the past twenty years, with installed combined-cycle and steam-power units running on gas and coal, are presented. The article describes the current environment of the institute's activities, the limitations of centralized financing of projects, the withdrawal from the market of power equipment of a number of foreign manufacturers of gas turbines due to sanctions, the adjustment of business plans of traditional customers of energy projects. The Institute actively accepts challenges, works with Russian manufacturers of gas turbine units, capitalizes on the accumulated experience of designing combined-cycle power plants (CCPP). An experience of construction and operation of the first stage of Sakhalinskaya SDPP-2 operating on coal, with a seismicity of the site at 9 points on the MSK scale on the coast of the Tatar Strait, is presented. During the time of operation of the station, the Sakhalin coal was found to be extremely viscous, which is associated with the presence of bentonite in its mineral part. The measures taken to partially reconstruct the fuel supply path led to a significant improvement in the operation of the path. The Institute-designed Svobodnenskaya thermal power plant (TPP) was put into operation, generating electricity and steam to provide consumers of the Amur Gas Processing Plant. Gas fuel is supplied from the main gas pipeline Power of Siberia-1. This implemented project is one of the examples of choosing a gas-fired steam turbine unit in favor of CCGT. The project Boiler House as Part of Ethane-Containing Gas-Processing Combine in the settlement of Ust-Luga on the Baltic Sea coast is unique as an example of the full integration of thermal power plant into a large industrial enterprise in order to solve the problem of minimizing the possible consequences of a major accident at the combine. The design of combined-cycle power plants of Novocherkasskaya SDPP and Artemovskaya CCPP-2 on the basis of domestically produced GTUs with a unit power of 110 and 160 MW, construction projects of new power units of Norilskaya CCPP-3 and Yakutskaya SDPP-2 for permafrost conditions are close to completion. The projects for the successive modernization of the Kirishskaya SDPP and Surgutskaya SDPP-1 power units with the replacement of steam turbine units are at the stages of designing and implementation. Institute Teploelektroproyekt is, as before, holding one of the leading positions among the design organizations of the industry, making a significant contribution to the development of the country’s energy industry.

High performance integrated solar combined cycles with minimum modifications to the combined cycle power plant design

The integration of solar energy into natural gas combined cycles has been successfully demonstrated in several integrated solar combined cycles since the beginning of this decade in many countries. There are many motivations that drive investments on integrated solar combined cycles which are primarily the repowering of existing power plants, the compliance with more severe environmental laws on emissions and the mitigation of risks associated with large solar projects. Integrated solar combined cycles are usually developed as brownfield facilities by retrofitting existing natural gas combined cycles and keeping the existing equipment to minimize costs. In this work a detailed off-design model of a 390MWe three pressure level natural gas combined cycle is built to evaluate different integration schemes of solar energy which either keep the equipment of the combined cycle unchanged or include new equipment (steam turbine, heat recovery steam generator). Both power boosting and fuel saving operation strategies are analyzed in the search for the highest annual efficiency and solar share. Results show that the maximum incremental power output from solar at design solar irradiance is limited to 19MWe without modifications to the existing equipment. Higher values are attainable only including a larger steam turbine. High solar radiation-to-electrical efficiencies in the range 24–29% can be achieved in the integrated solar combined cycle depending on solar share and extension of tube banks in the heat recovery steam generator. Compared to power boosting, the fuel saving strategy shows lower thermal efficiencies of the integrated solar combined cycle due to the efficiency drop of gas turbine at reduced loads. Without modifications to the existing equipment the maximum solar share of the total generated electricity is only about 1%.

Thermo-Economic Optimization of Hybridization Options for Solar Retrofitting of Combined-Cycle Power Plants

A thermo-economic optimization model of an integrated solar combined-cycle (ISCC) has been developed to evaluate the performance of an existing combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant when retrofitted with solar trough collectors. The model employs evolutionary algorithms to assess the optimal performance and cost of the power plant. To define the trade-offs required for maximizing gains and minimizing costs (and to identify ‘optimal’ hybridization schemes), two conflicting objectives were considered, namely, minimum required investment and maximum net present value (NPV). Optimization was performed for various feed-in tariff (FIT) regimes, with tariff levels that were either fixed or that varied with electricity pool prices. It was found that for the given combined-cycle power plant design, only small annual solar shares (∼1.2% annual share, 4% of installed capacity) could be achieved by retrofitting. The integrated solar combined-cycle design has optimal thermal storage capacities that are several times smaller than those of the corresponding solar-only design. Even with strong incentives to shift the load to periods in which the prices are higher, investment in storage capacity was not promoted. Nevertheless, the levelized costs of the additional solar-generated electricity are as low as 10 c€/kWh, compared to the 17–19 c€/kWh achieved for a reference, nonhybridized, “solar-only” concentrating solar power plant optimized with the same tools and cost dataset. The main reasons for the lower cost of the integrated solar combined-cycle power plant are improved solar-to-electric efficiency and the lower level of required investment in the steam cycle. The retrofitting of combined-cycle gas turbine plants to integrated solar combined-cycle plants with parabolic troughs represents a viable option to achieve relatively low-cost capacity expansion and strong knowledge building regarding concentrating solar power.

Medway: A High-Efficiency Combined Cycle Power Plant Design

The Medway Project is a 660 MW combined cycle power plant, which employs two of the world’s largest advanced technology MS9001FA combustion turbine generators and an advanced design reheat steam turbine generator in a power plant system designed for high reliability and efficiency. This paper discusses the power plant system optimization and design, including thermodynamic cycle selection, equipment arrangement, and system operation. The design of the MS9001FA combustion turbine generator and the steam turbine generator, including tailoring for the specific application conditions, is discussed.