Archives of Thermodynamics

Abstract

Efficiency and electrical power output of combined cycle power plants vary according to the ambient conditions. The amount of these variations greatly affects electricity production, fuel consumption, and plant incomes. Obviously, many world countries have a wide range of climatic conditions, which impact the performance of power plants. In this paper, a thermodynamic analysis of an operating power plant located in Jordan is performed with actual operating data acquired from the power plant control unit. The analysis is performed by using first and second laws of thermodynamics. Energy and exergy efficiencies of each component of the power plant system are calculated and the effect of ambient temperature on the components performance is studied. The effects of gas turbine pressure ratio, gas turbine inlet temperature, load and ambient conditions on the combined cycle efficiency, power outputs and exergy destruction are investigated. Energy and exergy efficiencies of the combined cycle power plant are found as 45.29%, and 42.73% respectively when the ambient temperature is 34 • C. Furthermore, it is found that the combustion chamber has the largest exergy destruction rate among the system components. The results showed that 73% of the total exergy destruction occurs in the combustion chamber when the ambient temperature is 34 • C. Moreover, the results show that the second major exergy loss is in HRSC. The results show that the energy and exergy efficiency of the combined cycle power plant decreases as the ambient temperature increases. According to the calculation results, improvement and modification suggestions are presented.