Combined Cycle Heat Recovery Optimization

摘要

The US electrical power industry has changed from a regualted business where utilities were virtually guaranteed a rate of return to an unregualted business where the market sets the price. As with any unregulated business, the price of a service or supply is determined by supply and demand, and the seller must be competitive in order to meet its desired revenue target. Profitability will largely be determined by the business' overall operating efficiency. As the electricity supply business becomes more competitive, it becomes more important to optimize fuel selection and plant design to achieve competitive electricity prices while providing a satisfactory financial return for owners and other participants. Plant designs need to be adjusted to the specific project parameters to acheive optimum results. Fuel costs, yearly plant outputs, interest rates and other factors need to be considered when establishing plant designs. Four plant designs are compared using natural gas in this paper. This paper will present a view of the cost beneits acheived through heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) optimization.