COMBUSTION TURBINE PLANT POWER AUGMENTATION USING TURBINE INLET COOLING WITH THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE

摘要

Combustion turbine (CT) power plants are well known to suffer from the adverse impact of high inlet air temperature, in reduced power output (as well as reduced efficiency). Unfortunately, the periods of highest ambient air temperatures (and greatest de-rating of performance) are generally precisely those times when power demand is highest and power output is most valuable. Accordingly, Turbine Inlet Cooling (TIC) technologies of various types are increasingly being employed to cool the inlet air, and thus enhance the power output (and improve the heat rate), of CT power plants. This is being accomplished in a wide range of applications, including: New CT plants and retrofits to existing CT plants; for industrial and aero-derivative CTs; Simple cycle and combined cycle CT plant configurations; Utility, independent power, and distributed generation (DG) plants; A range of plant capacities (from 1 MW to 1,000 MW); in locations around the world; A range of climates (from hot-arid to hot-humid and from hot year-round to seasonal). The leading approaches for TIC include two families of technologies: first, evaporative cooling methods (which have low initial cost but generally cool the inlet air only to near the ambient wet bulb temperature) and second, chiller-based systems (which have a higher initial cost but typically cool the inlet air to well below the I.S.O. conditions, e.g. to 4 to 10°C (40 to 50°F), and achieve a net power enhancement in hot weather of 20 to 30% or more). The use of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) in combination with chiller-based TIC systems often provides significant advantages and has been experiencing increased application around the world. Notably, TES can reduce the capacity of required chillers, reduce the net capital cost of the TIC system, and reduce parasitic power consumption (and thus maximize net power output) during peak demand periods. This paper presents a summary of data from a survey of CT plants employing TIC with TES. Data are presented for several dozen CTs using TIC-TES at over one dozen power plants in North America, Europe, The Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Statistics are presented to illustrate the locations, ages, types and sizes of plants, the TES technology types, the level of power enhancement, and trends over time. Conclusions are presented and discussed.