Heat Rate and Economic Evaluation of a Photovoltaic- Assisted Combine Cycle Power Plant

Gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plants are widely used as major power plants in grid systems, while world energy prices are rather high and renewable energy is now stepping in to replace conventional fossil energy. Therefore, the efficiency of the GTCC needs to be improved for both thermal efficiency and economic aspects. This concept will help GTCC improve its heat rate by bringing in renewable energy. In the present research, the installation of solar photovoltaics (PV) in the GTCC power plant for supplying the auxiliary equipment of the power plant was studied. The heat rate comparison between the proposed method and conventional GTCC, including an economic evaluation, was conducted through a case study of an independent power producer operating a 700 MW GTCC in Thailand. The performance test and calculation methodology followed the Performance Test Code 46 of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which eliminated the uncontrollable impact of environments. As a result, the PV system could replace some of the auxiliary power consumption by utilizing a PV system of 980 kW, the GTCC heat rate was improved to 59.17 kJ/kWh, and the electrical power generation was 1,393,379 kWh per year, which reduced the natural gas consumption by 10,086,671 MJ annually or 100,867 GJ for the remaining lifetime of the power plant

Synthesis Gas Production with Gasification Technology from Municipal Solid Waste

This study aims to develop, test performance, and evaluate the environmental pollution of garbage fuel with gasification technology. Heat conduction from municipal solid waste (MSW) burning from the gasification process was studied to dispose of solid waste and produce energy for communities. There were four types of solid waste in the total amount of 5 kg (including 0.5 kg of charcoal and firewood, 1.5 kg of paper, 2.0 kg of leaf litter, 0.5 kg of plastic, and 0.5 kg of others) with 2 tested ranges of average humidity: 10–20% and 50–55%. It was found that all waste could be converted for gas production with different gas amounts. From the experiment, dried MSW with 10–15% moisture content produced synthesis gas compositions (mole percent) that were H2, CO2, N2, O2, and CH4 at 1.9–2.4, 1.8–3.2, 56.5–60.2, 3.4–4.6, and 1.2–1.6, respectively. When fuel gas composition at the equivalent ratio between 0.2–0.34 was obtained from the MSW burning test with 10–15% average humidity, MSW burning in various equivalent ratios resulted in different amounts of synthesis gas. In addition, the optimal amounts of CH4 and the heating value of the gas were in the equivalent ratio of 0.28, and the highest production efficiency of synthetic gas (ηg) was 33.46%