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Coal Quantity
written by: johnzactruba edited by: Lamar Stonecypher updated: 10/15/2009
How to make quick estimate of the coal required for running a power plant? This article describes a
simple method.
Very often, the Power engineer is required to perform some basic calculations
regarding the key parameters of a power plant. Most important is the quantity and cost of fuel that is
required.This article gives the simple calculation method. (A detailed calculation required in the context
of a contract, tender, performance repor,t or a legal document may require more accurate input data.)
We take the example of a 100 MW Coal Fired Power Plant.
Efficiency
Energy conversion takes place in two stages.
and 230 bar have efficiencies around 42 %. We assume a value of 38 % for our case.
The overall conversion efficiency then is (38% x 88%) 33.44 %.
Heat Rate
Heat rate is the heat input required to produce one unit of electricity. (1 kw hr)
Coal Quantity
Since coal has a heat value of 20,000 kJ/kg, for producing one kw.hr we require (10765 /
20000) 0.538 kg of coal. This translates to (0.538 x 100 x 1,000) 53800 kg/hr (53.8 T/hr)
of coal for an output of 100 MW.
Coal Cost
Basic cost of coal depends on the market conditions. Transportation costs, regional influences and
government taxes are also part of the cost. Coal traders web sites give base prices in the international
market.
The cost of coal consumed by 100 MW power plant is (53.8 x 65) 3497 $ /hr
A 100 MW unit produces 100,000 units of electricity. So the cost of coal per unit of
electricity is (3497/100,000) 3.5 cents per unit.