It is important to remember that gas turbines, steam turbines and internal combustion engines are different types of mechanical devices that are generating power. Their ultimate goal is to provide you with enough power so you can use it for specific requirements and needs. The differences lie in the operating principles, application scenarios and sizes.
Combined cycle gas turbine is becoming widely recognized option as the efficient, reliable and eco-friendly solution for ensuring electricity generation altogether. Since more operators are trying to get alternatives for transitioning to cleaner energy sources, you can ensure to get combined cycle power plants, which will guarantee overall grid stability and reliability.
You should know that this particular option comes with certain advantages and disadvantages that will help you determine the best course of action. It is great alternative but you should use it carefully. By clicking here, you can learn more about different turbines you can use for specific requirements.
In further articles, we will give you more insight on how combined cycle turbine function, which will provide you a clear perspective. Let us start from the beginning.
Things to Know About Combined Cycle Turbine
A combined cycle gas turbine is a type of power generation system that takes advantage of two different cycles for producing electricity, while ensuring reliability and efficiency altogether. Therefore, the combined cycle involves the integration of steam and gas turbines that are working together to extract energy from a fuel source, which is mostly natural gas.
In most cases, you can do it by following two principles either Brayton cycle, which is used by regular gas turbines or Rankine cycle, used by steam turbines. Everything starts with a gas turbine. They will burn natural gas in the combustion chamber of the gas turbine, which creates a high-velocity stream of hot gases.
It expands through series of different turbine blades, which leads to spinning or rotation that drives a generator and produces electricity. Next step is stage for waste heat recovery, which means that exhaust gasses can leave the turbine if they are still hot. Instead of them going to waste, you can use combined cycle system to ensure they are reused once again.
However, the process has to pass through a heat recovery steam generator, which features wide array of heat exchanges that can easily transfer heat from gasses to water creating steam as a result. Visit this website: https://atb-archive.nrel.gov/electricity/2018/index.html?t=cg to learn more about this particular topic.
This particular operation allows steam turbine to start operating. It is vital to remember that generated steam is used to drive the turbine, which drives another generator to produce more electricity than it would if the process would use solely gas or steam options.
As you can see from everything mentioned above, combining steam turbine and gas turbine cycle, the system effectively manages to use high-end gases from the turbine to produce more electricity and generate steam.
This particular factor results in high overall efficiency of combined power plants compared to standalone options of either steam or gas turbine power plants. That is the biggest reason for the popularity and widespread today, because you will reduce the waste and use it to further create power.
Benefits of Combined Cycle Turbines
- Efficiency
You should remember that combined cycle gas turbine is widely recognized and known for exceptional thermal efficiency. As mentioned above, combining the gas turbine cycle with steam cycle can allow you to take advantage of larger amount of energy from the fuel, which leads to greater efficiency compared with regular steam and turbine power plants.
The facts state that the energy conversion efficiency of combined cycle power plants is approximately sixty percent, which is two times higher than standalone options that can go up to thirty-five percent efficiency.
- Flexibility
At the same time, you can take advantage of combined cycle gas turbine, which operates efficiently at partial load, while guaranteeing stability in the era of renewable energy generation. Therefore, you will be able to ensure intermittency, which is important to remember.
- Low Emissions
Another important consideration is that the combustion of natural gas in the turbine creates fewer emissions of greenhouse gasses and pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. At the same time, you can reduce carbon dioxide emissions and avoid further problems that may happen.
- Fast Start-Up
Before checking out turbine inspection, you should know that combined cycle power plant could start up faster than other options, meaning you can respond rapidly to electricity demand and changes.
This particular flexibility makes it perfectly suited for offering power at peak hours. At the same time, they can operate as both peak load and base load power sources, which mean they can run continually and provide you a stable amount of power. Their chance to start quickly is effective solution that will help you meet demand in sudden needs and spikes.