4E (Energy-Exergy-Economic-Environmental) performances assessment of different configurations of power cycles

Abstract

Steam power plants are alimented by different sources of energy including fossil fuels or renewable ones such as solar thermal, biomass or geothermal. Thus, thermodynamic, economic and environmental analyses of different steam power cycles are highly required for identification and choice of the most effective and viable layout to be adopted in the installation. Consequently, the main aim of the present paper is to compare five different configurations of power cycles in terms of energy and exergy efficiencies, fuel and cooling water consumptions, CO2 emissions rate, as well as investment and operating costs, and net present value (NPV). The obtained results present relevant differences; the energy and exergy efficiencies of the fifth configuration similar to the one of Achouat power station are the highest with 41.9% and 39.5% respectively. On the other hand, this configuration shows better environmental performances represented by CO2 emission (46.12 kg/s), and water consumption for cooling (7.42 m3/s). Economically, there is a clear convergence in the NPV values for configurations with Reheating and Regeneration processes. Moreover, the fourth configuration is the best in terms of net present value (NPV) of 103.1(M€).