Natural gas turbine combined cycles (GTCCs) are playing
a fundamental role in the current energy transition phase
towards sustainable power generation. The competitiveness of a
GTCC in future electrical networks will thus be firmly related to
its capability of successfully compensating the discontinuous
power demands. This can be made possible by enhancing power
generation flexibility and extending the operative range of the
plant.
To achieve this goal, a test rig to investigate gas turbine inlet
conditioning techniques was developed at the TPG laboratory of
the University of Genoa, Italy. The plant is composed of three key
hardware components: a micro gas turbine, a butane-based heat
pump, and a phase-change material cold thermal energy storage
system. The physical test-rig is virtually scaled up through a
cyber-physical approach, to emulate a full scale integrated
system.
The day-ahead schedule of the plant is determined by a
high-level controller referring to the Italian energy market,
considering fluctuations in power demands.
By using HP and TES, it is possible to control the mGT inlet
air temperature and thus enhance the operational range of the
plant optimizing the management of energy flows.
This article (Part 1) introduces the new experimental
facility, the real-time bottoming cycle dynamic model, and the
four-level control system that regulates the operation of the
whole cyber-physical plant. The experimental campaign and the
analysis of the system performance are presented in the Part 2