Off-Design Performance of Power Plants: An Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle Example
M. R. ERBES 1,
J. N. PHILLIPS 2,
M. S. JOHNSON 3,
J. PAFFENBARGER 3,
M. GLUCKMAN 4, and
R. H. EUSTIS 5
1 Mechanical engineer at the Corporate Research and Development Center of General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY 12301.
2 Associate research scientist at Shell Development Company, Houston, TX 77082.
3 Research assistants in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
4 Technical director in the Advanced Power Systems Division of the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
5 Clarence and Patricia Woodard Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Fossil-fueled power plants typically operate below their design capacities for a large fraction of their service life. In the United States, increased fuel and capital costs attributable to this off-design operation are considerable. This article describes the reasons for off-design operation and its importance in designing and selecting new power plants. Recent studies of coal gasification combined-cycle power plants show how computer simulations of off-design performance can aid in the design process, and they suggest that such simulations can be useful in reducing the cost of building and operating new power plants.
