Basic operating principles of

a thermal power plant

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 Table of content
—š™

1. REMINDER OF BASIC ENERGY PRINCIPLES _______________________________3

2. HOW DOES A THERMAL POWER PLANT OPERATE ? ________________________3
3. THE BOILER_____________________________________________________________4
4. THE FEED WATER _______________________________________________________6
5. THE STEAM TURBINE ____________________________________________________6
6. THE GENERATOR ________________________________________________________8
GENERAL ______________________________________________________________________8
OPERATION____________________________________________________________________8
7. THE CONDENSER ________________________________________________________9
THE CONDENSER COOLING ____________________________________________________10
Open circuit ___________________________________________________________________________ 10
Closed circuit __________________________________________________________________________ 11
8. PUMPING - HEATING - DEAERATION _____________________________________13
9. ELECTRIC POWER ______________________________________________________14
EVACUATION OF THE ELECTRIC POWER _______________________________________14
Powering of the electrical auxiliaries________________________________________________15
10. INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL______________________________________16
11. TYPES OF POWER PLANTS_______________________________________________19
12. HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ? _____________________________________________21
Power plant efficiencies & fuel expenditure contribution to the electrical kWh cost __________21
Power plant price and investment contribution to the electrical kWh cost __________________21
Operation and maintenance costs __________________________________________________22
Total cost of production of the kWh _________________________________________________22

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FOREWORD

Most of us know perfectly the basic operating principles of a thermal power plant ; others master its most secret
subtleties, and a very little number are considered as "masters" in front of our clients throughout the world.

However are things actually clear in the mind of those people, whether newly recruited or not, who do not have
a particular technical background and whose tasks, more discrete yet not less useful, transport, read, photocopy
or type huge quantities of technical documents day after day ?

This document addresses the latter without any pretension. We beg the pardon of all the ones who already
know !

1. REMINDER OF BASIC ENERGY PRINCIPLES

The modern world is becoming more and more demanding for energy. This energy exists in nature and takes
on many diverse forms, mainly:
· chemical energy
· calorific energy
· thermal energy
· mechanical energy
· electrical energy
· without forgetting potential, kinetic and elastic energy.

It comes out in different forms :

· potential,
· kinetic,
· elastic.

The problem is being able to use a so-called "noble" energy, and making it available:
· in the required form
· in the place where it is needed
· and in sufficient quantity.

Electrical energy offers a lot of these qualities, however transportation costs are expensive and to store it in
large quantities is impossible. In addition, its production requires much fuel and a large quantity of cooling fluid
(water or air). This means it is necessary to find ideal sites for the electrical power plants (with regard to the
zones of consumption, fuel procurement, water availability, …).

A thermal power station is an assembly of equipment that enables the transformation of the chemical energy
contained in a latent state in a fossil fuel into:
· thermal energy
· then mechanical energy
· then electrical energy

2. HOW DOES A THERMAL POWER PLANT OPERATE ?

The purpose of a thermal power plant is to produce electricity. To that end a generator must be driven in
rotation.
It is the turbine which has this function. The turbine is composed of a hub (rotor) spiked with blades, which are
actuated by a pressure fluid (liquid or gas).

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In our case the driving medium is generally steam. This steam is simply produced in a boiler, which operates on
gas, fuel oil, coal or with nuclear energy. It can also be produced by a steam generator called heat recovery
steam generator (HRSG), which is fed by the exhaust gas from a gas turbine. Our power plant is then called
"conversion" or "add-on", and together with the gas turbine it constitutes a combined cycle.

Anyone of us could thus construct their own thermal power plant with their own cheese fondue stove, a boiler,
an old fan and the dynamo of their bike.

Basic principle of electricity production

Here is how a designer would represent such an installation. "But where does so much water come from ?" you
may ask. "What happens to the steam after it has "worked" in the turbine ?..."

Simplified water/steam diagram

The following chapters will provide you with some explanations.

3. THE BOILER
Moving further on the water/steam cycle, we now reach the most impressive component of the power plant :
the boiler. Its function is to transform the feed water by the combustion of coal, fuel oil or gas into high
pressure and high temperature steam for driving the turbine.

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 Boilers at BUKIT ASAM Power Plant - 4 x 650 MW

This transformation is performed in two phases, on which the whole architecture of the boiler will depend :

· coal combustion for instance, is accompanied by a strong release of heat. For this combustion to be
possible and complete, the fuel must be put into contact with the combustive air under ideal conditions. This
will determine the design of the burners and the preparation of the fuel according to its nature. Coals must
be crushed finely and fuel oils sprayed. The shape and the volume of the furnaces must be such that the
route of the flame is long enough for the combustion to be complete : coals difficult to burn like lignite, will
need very large furnaces. Air circulation through the boiler is natural partly, through a chimney, which is
also intended to reject the combustion induced pollutants as high as possible, but also ensured by forced
draught fans, which blow air into the furnace, and induced draught fans, which extract the flue gas.

· Steam is produced by surface heat exchangers, which transmit the heat from the flue gas to the water
of the cycle.

The water which comes from the water heating plant must first be heated up to its boiling point by the
flue gas in the economiser tubes. It is then evaporated in the evaporating tube bundles, which cover
the walls of the furnace. There the tubes exposed to the flame radiation are the most stressed.

The steam is concentrated in the boiler drum where it is dried. Its temperature is then increased in the
superheater, which is placed just at the outlet of the furnace.

After the economiser, the flue gas temperature is still sufficient to rise the temperature of the ambient air in
the air heater before it is directed to the burners. However the flue gas must be dedusted before it is
discharged to the chimney. Nowadays for reasons of environmental protection, they must also be
depolluted. (SOx, NOx, …).
· These two major functions are completed with fuel unloading, storage and preparation, and discharge of
combustion products, ashes, etc...
· This description corresponds to a drum type boiler.

The whole assembly, which is called the boiler house may represent up to 40 % of the price of the complete
power plant, depending on the nature of the fuel.

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 Boilers at ADOLFO LOPEZ MATEOS (Mexico) - 4 x 350 MW

4. THE FEED WATER

Very high flow rates of water are necessary to feed the boiler : about 1000 tons per hour in a 350 MW power
plant. This water which, once transformed into steam, will drive the turbine, must present very particular
chemical qualities. In addition, its loss and its renewal would be very costly.
Lastly and above all, in order to improve the power plant efficiency, the steam which worked in the turbine must
not escape to the atmosphere but to a volume with a lower, almost nil pressure. These are three good reasons
for inventing the condenser, where the steam is transformed into water as soon as it leaves the turbine casing.
In the condenser the steam comes into contact with tubes which are filled with cold circulating water (this is the
condenser cooling circuit). The steam which is cooled down condenses and falls down like rain into a reservoir
called the condenser hotwell. It is then carried by pumps which return it to the boiler. This is a closed circuit.
There is almost no water loss and its chemical treatment is thus simplified.

Water-steam diagram

5. THE STEAM TURBINE

On the water/steam diagram of our conventional thermal power plant you may have noticed that the loop is
closed with an essential link, which is the motor and the electric power producer, this is called the turbine-
generator set.

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 Turbine-generator set of ULJIN nuclear power station (Korea)

This component is the most important rotating machine in the power plant. It is composed of two parts : the
steam turbine and the generator (electric power generator).

Low pressure casing of a turbine under assembly

The "high pressure" and "high temperature steam" produced by the boiler (about 180 bars at 540° C for a
350 MW turbine) is directed to the turbine through large pipes. This very "energetic" steam will flow through the
turbine up to the condenser, which is located at the exhaust of the last wheel of the turbine. The condenser
pressure is about a few hundredths of bar and its temperature ranges from 20 to 40 °C. All the energy lost by
the steam has been used to drive the turbine in rotation (generally at 3.000 rpm) supplying high mechanical
power. The turbine is composed of a rotor equipped with bladed wheels (from 20 to 30) and a stator, itself
spiked with fixed blades, thus forming a steam path, which gets wider from the turbine inlet to the turbine
exhaust to the condenser as the pressure decreases.

The blades are then very short at the turbine inlet (only a few cm long), whereas they may be up to one metre
long at the turbine exhaust.
The turbine can be "broken down" into several casings (HP, IP and LP for instance) to realise reheat cycles.

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The generator, which is driven mechanically by the turbine rotor, produces electricity. It works more or less on
the same principle as the dynamo of your bike, the turbine acting as the wheel of the bike. It is composed of a
rotor rotating at the same speed as the turbine, and of a stator. It produces high voltage three-phase
alternating current (20,000 V approx).
The turbine-generator set (TG-set) is generally installed on a table called TG-set basement at a height of 10 to
12 m so that the condenser can be accommodated under the turbine.
A 350 MW TG-set is about 30 m long in total and weighs 800 tons together with its auxiliaries. In a nuclear
power station (1,500 MW) its total length can reach 70 m and its weight 4.000 t approx.

6. THE GENERATOR

GENERAL

The generator rotor is coupled rigidly to the steam turbine generator, hence the name of turbine-generator set.
The generator then transforms the mechanical power of the turbine rotor into electric power.

Generator stating under winding Rotor introduction into the stator

OPERATION

How is the steam turbine energy transformed into electric power ? To answer that, one should go back to the
sources, that is the fundamentals of electromagnetism. Let's assume a magnet driven in rotation as shown on
figure below. In the fixed circuit a, b, c placed nearby, one notices the appearance of a single period
alternating current called single-phase current. The generator works on this basic principle. The magnetic bar is
in fact replaced by the electric magnet installed on the rotor, ie a copper winding energised by a direct electric
current. The fixed circuit a, b, c is replaced by three fixed copper bar circuits wedged on the slots of the
magnetic sheets that compose the stator (this is the stator winding).

The rotor driven by the steam turbine rotates in the stator. Each passage of the electric magnet of the rotor in
front of a fixed circuit of the stator winding produces an alternating current.

As there are three identical circuits a, b, c, in the stator, we get a three-phase alternating current. A switch
connects the power plant to the external grid. It is called the high voltage circuit breaker.

Lastly it should be known that the current circulating in the stator winding circuit itself generates a magnetic
field, which according to another electric magnetism law, tends to counter the phenomenon which created it,
and as a result slows down the rotation of the rotor.

The steam turbine must overcome this counter-reaction by opening its inlet valves more widely in order to keep
the speed of rotation constant. But when the circuit breaker opens, the current is cut off in the stator and the
counter-reaction is stopped : the energy necessary for driving the generator at no load is then very low.

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 Electromagnetism principle

7. THE CONDENSER
The most important function of the condenser is to discharge the heat contained in the steam at turbine exhaust
at the lowest possible temperature. To that end a natural medium is used, which must be cold and available in
sufficient quantity. This is the purpose of cooling, also called heat sink.

The quantity of heat to be discharged is significant. For a 350 MWelec turbine, for instance 400 MWth must be
discharged to the heat sink. This explains why it is more and more difficult to find sites for power plants because
the most suitable natural cooling fluid is water (from sea, lake or river) and it must be available in sufficient
quantity.

Let's remind ourselves that a river like the Loire has a minimum flow rate of 100.000 m³/h whereas a 1000 MW
nuclear power station needs 200,000 m³/h.

The condenser is the most important surface heat exchanger in the power plant. It is composed of a tube
bundle which circulates cooling water, and also called circulating water. The steam condenses on the outer
surface of the tubes and loses its heat to the circulating water, whose temperature then increases by about ten
degrees and the water thus formed (condensate) flows into the hotwell of the condenser.

Condenser with tubes and tube sheets under manufacturing

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The tubes are fixed on each end in the tube sheets (see the photo). Water boxes are arranged on either side of
the plates, one distributes water to the inlet of the tubes and the other recovers the flow at their outlet to discharge it.

A 1.000 MW nuclear power station unit needs 75.000 tubes, which represents a total length of 1.000 km
approximately, an exchange surface of 70.000 m², and a weight of about 2.000 tons !

The importance of this heat exchanger and the frequent use of corrosive water (sea water) require that detailed studies
be conducted in collaboration with the turbine maker for each project in order to define the thermodynamic design
(choice of the vacuum value), the optimum installation and the choice of the materials.

THE CONDENSER COOLING

Open circuit

We have already spoken of the need to extract a huge thermal power from the condenser at the lowest possible
temperature.

The best way to reject this heat to the nature is through the existing water (sea or river). This is called the open
cooling circuit.

Virtual view of a pumping station

Cold water is drawn from a pumping station which includes a screening plant and circulating water
pumps. It is conveyed to the condenser through a circulating water piping network, heated in the
condenser and then returned to the sea or the river at a definite point, which has been chosen carefully to avoid
recirculation, that is to prevent heat from returning to the pumping station.

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 Circulating water pipes - LAIBIN (China) - 2 x 360 MW

This circuit, due to the large volume of water used, needs significant civil work structures : pumping station,
weir, site arrangement works ..., as well as significant equipment (coarse screens, screening drums, pumps,
pipeworks, valves ...).

In addition the use of raw water, which is often corrosive and likely to favour the growth of living organisms like
algae, mussels, etc owing to its temperature, requires thorough chemical treatments, in particular
chlorination.

As one can well imagine, this system largely conditions the choice of the site for a power plant : sea side, large
river bank. Such sites cannot be found in all countries, or only in a limited number of countries. Besides the
presence on these sites of existing areas of electricity consumption (big towns, industrial areas) or the
nature and origin of the fuel must also be taken into account.

Lastly it should not be forgotten that the electric power must be transported by very costly high voltage lines,
and the fuel is not less costly, especially bad fuels such as mining residues or lignite.

It is then necessary to find other cooling means, which would expand the choice of sites. The basic idea consists
in using the ambient air as heat dissipating medium.

Closed circuit

We have seen that the larger the power plant, the more difficult it is to find a site with open cooling circuit (sea,
river). In addition the sites are not always well situated with regard to the centres of electric power consumption
or the points of extraction of some fuels (lignite for instance), the transportation of which is very costly.
The most flexible solution consists in using the atmosphere as cold source.

We will distinguish two major families using air as final coolant :

· The "wet" cooling towers
· The "dry" cooling towers.

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 Natural draught wet cooling tower

Forced draught fan air coolers

In "wet" cooling, the turbine is cooled by a water condenser as in an open circuit, but the water instead of being
rejected, is cooled in a cooling tower before being recycled to the condenser. In the cooling tower the hot water
which is finely dispersed falls onto an ascending air draught and the heat exchange is carried out by direct
contact essentially, saturating the ambient air and heating it slightly. This results in the vaporisation of
one part of the water which is to be cooled (this is the white plume you can see rejected by the cooling towers).
This loss must of course be compensated for ; together with some other losses it amounts to about 2 to 3 % of
the flow across the condenser. This flow must be found and pre-treated on the site of the power plant. It is
called make-up water.

The cooling tower can be of either natural draught or induced draught (fans) type. Such a system
reduces the efficiency of the power plant by about 1.5 %.

More and more often it happens that this minimum makeup water flow is not available. A dry cooling tower
system must then be adopted. A first system consists of replacing the previous wet cooling tower by a dry
cooling tower.

The heat exchange between air and water takes place in a surface condenser (this is an immense car radiator).
A second system which is more widely used consists of arranging an air-cooled condenser at the steam
turbine exhaust directly. This is a surface exchanger, where steam condenses inside finned tubes and air
circulates outside by mechanical draught.
These bulky dry systems decrease the efficiency of the power plant by about 3 to 4 %.

The only compensations are no water loss, total freedom of plant location and no impact on the environment.

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8. PUMPING - HEATING - DEAERATION

In thermodynamics, Mr CARNOT (whose name was not only used to name boulevards !) teaches us that for
improving the efficiency of a power plant :
1. The steam at the turbine exhaust is to be condensed to the lowest possible temperature (30 to 40°C
practically).
2. The boiler is to be fed at the highest possible temperature (200 to 300 °C practically).

Besides, the condenser pressure is to be virtually nil (0.05 bar approx).

Conclusion : pumping and heating of feed water must be performed between the condenser and the boiler.

Feed water heating plant at FLEVOLAND power plant (Netherlands)

Heating is ensured with steam extracted from the turbine. It is performed in a staged way in heaters, each of
which increases the feed water temperature by about 30 °C. There are 6 or 7 heaters in total : most of them
are "surface" heat exchangers except for one, which is generally of "direct contact" type. This one is called "feed
water tank" ; it is arranged near the middle of the circuit. The heaters arranged between the condenser and
the feed water tank compose the LP heating plant, whereas those arranged between the feed water tank and
the boiler compose the HP heating plant. The feed water is transferred from the condenser to the feed water
tank by the condensate pumps, and from the feed water tank to the boiler by the feed water pumps.

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Lastly corrosion must be prevented by clearing the feed water from the dissolved oxygen it contains : this is
called "deaeration". This operation which is started in the condenser hotwell is essentially ensured by the
"deaerator", and is associated with the feed water tank.
This assembly together with the condenser is called the "feed water heating plant". It represents a
significant part of the power plant equipment.

9. ELECTRIC POWER

EVACUATION OF THE ELECTRIC POWER

The electric power produced by the generator is transmitted to the high voltage grid of the country. It is better to
increase the voltage to limit losses in the high voltage grid, that is why the distribution networks at the power
plant outlet operate at voltages of 132 kV, 220 kV, 400 kV or 550 kV.

For reasons of design, the generator can produce voltages generally ranging between 10 and 25 kV. The
voltage is increased at the power plant outlet by a step-up transformer, which converts the generator
voltage into the grid voltage. This transformer is usually equipped with an on-load tap changer to finely set the
voltage to the grid voltage.

Single-line diagram

The current delivered by the generator is high. In large power plants the electric connection between the
generator and the step-up transformer cannot be carried out with classical cables, but with three-phase
busbars, each phase of which is composed of an aluminium tube conductor and an external enclosure
insulated by the ambient air.

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Powering of the electrical auxiliaries

To operate, the power plant needs auxiliaries such as pumps, coal mills and automatic valves, which are driven
by motors or electric actuators. Their power (from a few watts to a few megawatts) varies with the size of the
power plant. The voltage to these auxiliaries is then selected according to their power :
· Auxiliaries above 200 kV are generally fed with medium voltage, for instance three-phase 6000 V,
· Auxiliaries with a smaller power are fed with three-phase 400 V or single-phase 230 V.

The most common method for powering power plant auxiliaries consists of extracting the necessary electric
power from the generator terminals by means of the unit transformer, which powers the 6000 V switchboard
and the associated auxiliaries. The output of this unit transformer can range from a few MVA to 30 MVA
depending on the size of the power plant.

While the power plant is started up, the auxiliaries need to be powered before the generator starts delivering
power. A generator circuit-breaker placed in the generator busbars makes it possible to power the
auxiliaries under start-up from the high voltage network, while the generator is disconnected. At the end of the
start-up of the power plant, when the steam turbine is ready to supply energy, the generator through
synchronisation by this circuit breaker will be re-connected to the high voltage grid and will begin to produce
energy.

The low voltage auxiliaries are fed from 6000 / 420 V step-down transformers. For electronic power
distribution stability reasons, the power of each transformer does not exceed 2500 kVA. Some transformers are
devoted to the auxiliaries of the boiler, steam turbine and some others to the external auxiliaries such as the de-
mineralised water production plant, the cooling towers, etc.

Main transformers of the nuclear power station of LING AO (PR China)

An important fault in the power plant may cause all the normal alternating power supplies to trip ; in this case
the turbine-generator set is also tripped and the power plant is under black-out. Several safety sources are
available to stop the power plant under the most safe conditions :
· An emergency power generating set starts automatically as soon as the three-phase alternating sources
disappear. It powers the three-phase 400 V switchboard of the essential auxiliaries thus allowing the safe
shutdown of the power plant. Depending on the type of the power plant, the power output of these
generating sets can range from 200 to 800 kVA.
· In case of blackout, a 110 V direct current generating system also powers the auxiliaries that are definitely
necessary for the main turbine-generator set, when it is stopped. This set is composed of the battery chargers
and the associated batteries. During the normal operation of the power plant, the battery chargers feed the
connected auxiliaries and ensure the permanent re-charge of the batteries. On black-out the batteries power
the vital auxiliaries for a few hours.

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· The general control system of the power plant as well as the whole instrumentation are powered by an
uninterrupted single-phase 230 V system. This is obtained by an assembly of rectifiers/inverters and
associated batteries.

All internal electrical circuits of the power plant are protected. The protections of the outgoing feeders (motor or
motor-operated valve) are located in the associated distribution switchboard. The protections of the generator
and main transformers are grouped together in a unique cabinet, which includes the voltage, current,
frequency, … protections.

It is necessary to inform the operator in the main control room of the conditions of the main electrical
parameters of the power plant, namely voltages, current and frequency of the generator and auxiliary circuits.
The current and voltage measurement transformers and the associated transmitters are installed in the strategic
points of the electrical installation. The active and reactive energy of the generator and the auxiliary circuits is
measured permanently.

As indicated above, the generator is coupled to the grid by synchronisation via the generator circuit breaker. In
many power plants the synchronisation can also be carried out by the circuit breaker installed on the high
voltage station. Synchronisation can be fully automatic or manual :
· if automatic, a specialised automatic system compares the voltages, frequencies and phases on either side
of the circuit breaker to be synchronised. It acts on the speed control of the steam turbine and on the
excitation of the generator to make them concordant, and gives the closing order to the circuit breaker,
· if manual, all the above operations are carried out by the operator in control room.

The power plant supplies its own lighting circuits. Three types of lighting are provided for continuous service :
· Normal three-phase 400 V lighting, which represents 80 % of the volume of lighting of the power plant,
· Emergency lighting supplied by the diesel generating set, which represents the remaining 20 %,
· Lighting supplied with direct current and batteries in the strategic points of the power plant.

10.INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL

The centralised control system consists of all the necessary equipment for remote control and monitoring of power
plant components.

Nowadays, all power plants are controlled from a central point, the control room. As a result, all the necessary
control information is forwarded to the control room where all controls are possible. This control room then
allows :
- Putting various installations, which constitute the power plant, into or out of service,
- Checking that the equipment operates within the specified limits, in order to satisfy the operating conditions,
- Maintaining a number of parameters between pre-determined values,
- Detecting abnormal conditions and taking the necessary actions to keep the equipment safe.

Only a restricted number of systems or components remain locally controlled, that is to say with their controls
close by. These are not directly linked to the production of electric power and their use is not urgent.

To meet these objectives the centralised control system is comprised of the following components :
- measurement sensors,
- actuators,
- logic and analogue processing units,
centralised control room equipment: operator stations, printers, engineering stations …

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 Centralised control system

a/ The measurement sensors

There are 2 types :

- analogue sensors, which deliver continuous information according to the measured parameter. These
are :
· thermocouples and temperature resistance detectors, 4 - 20 mA or 0 - 20 mA transmitters for
measurement of : pressure, flow rate, level or electric parameters such as voltage, current, power,
…
· special measurements (at very low level), such as vibration measurements.

- logic sensors, which deliver on-off information through switches, such as pressure switches,
temperature switches, limit-switches for valves, …

b/ The actuators

There are two types of actuators, which depend on whether their action is of the on-off or modulating
type :
. on-off action : medium or low voltage motors
motor-operated valves
solenoid-valves

. modulating action : control valves

control dampers
variable speed motors

c/ The logic and analogue processing units

They are destined to start, stop and protect the equipment of the power plant, either on operator request
or automatically.

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 The processing units receive all the electric/electronic signals sent by the sensors mentioned above, in
specialised modules. With regards to the on-off signals, the sensor's change of state is dated by the
millisecond, which makes it possible to know the chronology of events and detect the origin of the fault
more easily.

The micro-processor-based processing units process open or closed loops indifferently.

The action is logic when the processing is by 0 or 1, e.g. on/off, open/closed, ... The action is analogue
when the processing is by means of a closed loop, which tends to maintain a given parameter at a fixed
value, e.g. a level.

The general processing units deal with the operation of the following components :
. boiler
. coal yard
. ash treatment
. water/steam cycle, drain systems
. turbine and generator auxiliaries .

Specialised processing units deal with the operation of critical assemblies, which require a higher level of
safety or a higher speed of processing ; they are :
. the units for the control and protection of the steam and gas turbines
. the units for the generator excitation system,
. the units for the electrical protection of the generators, transformers, etc.

The latter are always redundant, and the most critical ones even have 3 parallel processors.

d/ Control room equipment:

Modern power plants have abandoned the classical control and monitoring means (push-buttons,
indicators, recorders, …) for keyboard/screen controls.

Thus, present control rooms limit themselves to only a few keyboard/screen operator stations and printers.

The operator stations allow : individual or automatic control of equipment, display of process mimics,
alarm lists, analogue parameter follow-up curves.

The system also makes it possible to compile and consult archives, use image walls piloted by video
signals and optimise the management of the power plant. This allows good configuration to be found,
leading to higher efficiency and trouble detection with a view to introducing scheduled maintenance.

e/ Communication networks :

The centralised control systems have generalised the use of communication networks, thus the cabling
volume necessary for the control room.

As a rule 3 communication buses are used in the power plant :

. the input/output network, which connects the processing units to the sensors' acquisition modules or
directly to the intelligent sensors.

. the unit network, which connects the unit processing units to one another and to the control room.

. the site network, which dispatches the information and controls to the operator stations and printers in
the control room. This network can connect the various units of the site and communicates with the
overall site management or the national dispatching centre.

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Information and process safety :

Not only is the mechanical equipment redundant but also the communication buses and the processing units.
The loss of an operator station in the control room does not cause too many problems because the control of
the power plant is still possible via the remaining stations.

The automation level :

There are generally 3 levels of automation :

. the actuator level, which corresponds to the remote control of an individual actuator,

. the sub-group or group levels corresponding to a major function of the power plant, e.g. the feed water
pumps, for which the automatic control system manages the orders for start-up, shutdown and emergency
take-over between 2 pumps in case of failure …

. the general co-ordination level of a unit, which concerns the fully automatic start-up and shutdown of a
unit by action on the preceding groups and according to a pre-determined sequence.
This level is also concerned with the elaboration of the unit's global load set points and the remote control
from the national dispatching centre.
Most power plants are equipped with group controls ; combined cycle power plants lend themselves easily
to a general unit coordination level and they are generally fully automatic.

11.TYPES OF POWER PLANTS

Before continuing, it would be useful to do a quick inventory of the different possibilities available for producing
electrical energy. Let us quote:

· Thermal power plants driven by a fuel combustion powered thermal motor,

Turbo-reactor, Gas turbine, Free piston machine, Diesel motors.

· Power plants driven by compressible fluids : wind-powered power plants

· Power plants driven by incompressible fluids
Hydraulic power plants : high chute, medium chute, low chute.

A medium chute hydraulic power station

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· Steam power plants, where the steam generator can be one of two types :
· Fossil fuel boilers - classic or "conventional" power plants with:
ù Solid fuels : coal, wood, lignite, waste, etc.
ù Liquid fuels : heavy and light fuel oils,
ù Gas fuels : natural gas, recovered industrial gases (refinery, high furnaces,…)

· Nuclear fuel boilers :

Nuclear power plant – In the foreground, the reactors

To these types of power plant, it is necessary to add :

· Combined cycles, which combine gas turbine and steam turbine
· Conversions or add-ons, where a gas powered plant is transformed into a combined cycle.
Last, but not least :
· Geothermal power plants, which draw their energy from underground.

Combined cycle power plant – In the foreground, the gas turbine and its air filter

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12.HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ?
The price of the power plant contributes to the cost of the electricity produced. The final aim is to produce
electricity (kWh) at the lowest possible cost (your electricity invoice will depend on it !). The cost of the kWh
produced depends on :
· The price of the power plant (investment cost),
· The fuel expenditure,
· The operating and maintenance costs.

The price of the power plant depends on its type of firing (on coal, gas, nuclear, hydraulic, ..) and its efficiency
(which can generally be improved with more expensive equipment).

The annual expenditure for fuel depends on both the efficiency and the price of the fuel ; the higher the fuel
efficiency, the lower the fuel quantity required but then unfortunately the higher the price of the power plant as
well. Therefore it is obvious that the best compromise must be found between the cost and the efficiency of the
power plant, in order to achieve the minimum cost of the kWh. This is the actual purpose of the technico-
economic optimisations, which, among others, will determine how competitive our offers are.

Here are a few orders of magnitude for the main economical parameters that are taken into account when
calculating the cost of the kWh produced. Our demonstration will focus on a large fossil fuelled conventional
power plant (2 x 350 MW) and compare it to a gas fired combined cycle power plant with the same power
output.

Power plant efficiencies & fuel expenditure contribution to the electrical kWh cost

Efficiency can be measured as the quantity of thermal kWh necessary, as fuel quantity, to produce 1 electrical
kWh. The following figures are for power plants on the sea side :

Coal fired conventional power plant Gas fired combined cycle

Quantity of fuel kWh to produce 2.5 1.8
1 electrical kWh
Efficiency, in % 40 55.5
Price of 1 kWh of fuel (value on the 0.6 cent € 1.1 cent €
international market) (40 €/ton) (3 USD/MBTU)
Fuel cost for 1 electrical kWh 1.5 cent €/kWh 2.0 cent €/kWh

Power plant price and investment contribution to the electrical kWh cost

The purchase of a power plant must be paid back via every kWh produced throughout the life time of the
power plant. This means that the more the power plant is operated (in hours per year), the less important the
contribution of the investment cost is to the cost of the kWh produced, hence the interest of a cheap power plant
with a high availability rate.

Coal fired conventional power plant Gas fired combined cycle

Power plant price 700 €/kW 450 €/kW
Contribution of the power plant price 1.3 cent €/kWh 0.8 cent €/kWh
to the cost of the electrical kWh

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Operation and maintenance costs

The operating costs (for staff in particular) and the maintenance costs are higher for a coal fired conventional
power plant than for a combined cycle power plant though the gas turbines need significant preventive
maintenance.

Coal fired conventional power plant Gas fired combined cycle

Operation and maintenance staff, 150 people approx 60 people approx
on average
Contribution of operation costs to 0.6 cent €/kWh 0.4 cent €/kWh
the cost of the electrical kWh

Total cost of production of the kWh

Cost ( cent €/kWh) Coal fired conventional power plant Gas fired combined cycle
Fuel part 1.5 2.0
Investment part 1.3 0.8
Operation part 0.6 0.4
Total 3.4 3.2

We can generally notice that a combined cycle power plant is more economical than a coal fired power plant
and more environmentally friendly, provided the context of the project allows the plant to be fed with gas. In
some cases where cheap coal (lignite, petcoke, …) is available locally, the choice of a conventional power plant
of course makes much more sense.

Lastly let's examine the price of a coal fired power plant like the one envisaged above (2 x 350 MW on coal) in
further details.

Its total price amounts to approximately 700 €/kW, that is to say that the power plant is worth M€ 500, which
represents 50,000 small cars (€ 10,000 worth each) or 2,500 houses (worth €200,000 each) providing
accommodation for 10 000 people !

This price can be broken down between the major components as follows :
· Boilers 33 %
· Turbine (6.5 %)
} 10 %
· Generator (3.5 %)
· Mechanical equipment 30 %
· Electrical equipment and instrumentation & control 12 %
· Civil works 15 %
______
100 %

This distribution of costs can vary a lot depending on the country of installation and the scope required by the
customer. The costs of the services associated with construction and civil works can easily range from 1 to 3 or
4.

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