FUNDAMENTALS OF POWER

PLANT ENGINEERING DESIGN

 MODULE 1.1
CONCEPT AND CLASSIFICATION
OF POWER PLANT
SOURCES:
https://ucahelps.alberta.ca/electricity-energy-market.aspx
http://sparkonline.com.ng/2017/01/understanding-the-nigerian-power-sector-gencos.html
 A power plant is assembly of
systems or subsystems to
generate electricity.

The power plant itself must be

useful economically and
environmental friendly to the SOURCE: thebulletin.org
society. https://thebulletin.org/2020/04/uranium-supplies-are-
not-a-us-national-security-problem-why-is-trump-
pretending-the-opposite/
A power plant may be defined as
a machine or assembly of
equipment that generates and
delivers a flow of mechanical or
electrical energy. The main
equipment for the generation of
electric power is generator. SOURCE:https://www.google.com/search?q=generators+i
n+power+plants&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2a
hUKEwjwku6p07zpAhUHyosBHdVMAgAQ_AUoAXoECBE
QAw&biw=1517&bih=675#imgrc=6_nHE7Z3ZWL-_M
 The power plant itself must
be useful economically and
environmental friendly to the
society.
 Power Plant

Non
Conventional
Conventional
 Conventional sources of energy are the natural energy resources which
are present in a limited quantity and are being used for a long time. They are
called non-renewable sources as once they are depleted, they cannot be
generated at the speed which can sustain its consumption rate. They are
formed from decaying matter over hundreds of millions of years.

These resources have been depleted to a great extent due to their

continuous exploitation. It is believed that the deposits of petroleum in our
country will be exhausted within few decades and the coal reserves can last
for a hundred more years. Some common examples of conventional sources
of energy include coal, petroleum, natural gas and electricity.
 Non-conventional sources of energy are the energy sources which are
continuously replenished by natural processes. These cannot be exhausted
easily, can be generated constantly so can be used again and again, e.g.
solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, biomass energy and geothermal
energy etc. The energy obtained from non-conventional sources is known as
non-conventional energy. These sources do not pollute the environment and
do not require heavy expenditure. They are called renewable resources as
they can be replaced through natural processes at a rate equal to or greater
than the rate at which they are consumed.
SOURCE: https://www.javatpoint.com/conventional-sources-of-energy-vs-non-conventional-sources-of-energy
➢Fossil-fuel power stations may also use a steam turbine generator or in the case of natural gas-fired
plants may use a combustion turbine. A coal-fired power station produces heat by burning coal in a
steam boiler. The steam drives a steam turbine and generator that then produces electricity. The waste
products of combustion include ash, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide. Some of the
gases can be removed from the waste stream to reduce pollution.
➢Nuclear power plants use the heat generated in a nuclear reactor's core (by the fission process) to
create steam which then operates a steam turbine and generator. About 20 percent of electric
generation in the USA is produced by nuclear power plants.
➢Geothermal power plants use steam extracted from hot underground rocks. These rocks are heated
by the decay of radioactive material in the Earth's crust.
➢Biomass-fuelled power plants may be fuelled by waste from sugar cane, municipal solid waste,
landfill methane,or other forms of biomass.
➢In integrated steel mills, blast furnace exhaust gas is a low-cost, although low-energy-density, fuel.
➢Waste heat from industrial processes is occasionally concentrated enough to use for power
generation, usually in a steam boiler and turbine.
➢Solar thermal electric plants use sunlight to boil water and produce steam which turns the generator.
➢Steam turbine plants use the dynamic pressure generated by expanding steam to turn the blades of a turbine.
Almost all large non-hydro plants use this system. About 90 percent of all electric power produced in the world is
through use of steam turbines.
➢Gas turbine plants use the dynamic pressure from flowing gases (air and combustion products) to directly operate
the turbine. Natural-gas fuelled (and oil fueled) combustion turbine plants can start rapidly and so are used to
supply "peak" energy during periods of high demand, though at higher cost than base-loaded plants. These may be
comparatively small units, and sometimes completely unmanned, being remotely operated. This type was
pioneered by the UK, Princetown being the world's first, commissioned in 1959.
➢Combined cycle plants have both a gas turbine fired by natural gas, and a steam boiler and steam turbine which
use the hot exhaust gas from the gas turbine to produce electricity. This greatly increases the overall efficiency of
the plant, and many new baseload power plants are combined cycle plants fired by natural gas.
➢Internal combustion reciprocating engines are used to provide power for isolated communities and are frequently
used for small cogeneration plants. Hospitals, office buildings, industrial plants, and other critical facilities also use
them to provide backup power in case of a power outage. These are usually fuelled by diesel oil, heavy oil, natural
gas, and landfill gas.
➢Microturbines, Stirling engine and internal combustion reciprocating engines are low-cost solutions for using
opportunity fuels, such as landfill gas, digester gas from water treatment plants and waste gas from oil production
Power plants that can be dispatched (scheduled) to provide energy to a system include:

➢Base load power plants run nearly continually to provide that component of system load that doesn't vary during a
day or week. Baseload plants can be highly optimized for low fuel cost, but may not start or stop quickly during
changes in system load. Examples of base-load plants would include large modern coal-fired and nuclear
generating stations, or hydro plants with a predictable supply of water.
➢Peaking power plants meet the daily peak load, which may only be for one or two hours each day. While their
incremental operating cost is always higher than base load plants, they are required to ensure security of the
system during load peaks. Peaking plants include simple cycle gas turbines and reciprocating internal combustion
engines, which can be started up rapidly when system peaks are predicted. Hydroelectric plants may also be
designed for peaking use.
➢Load following power plants can economically follow the variations in the daily and weekly load, at lower cost than
peaking plants and with more flexibility than baseload plants.

Non-dispatchable plants include such sources as wind and solar energy; while their long-term contribution to
system energy supply is predictable, on a short-term (daily or hourly) base their energy must be used as available
since generation cannot be deferred. Contractual arrangements ("take or pay") with independent power producers
or system interconnections to other networks may be effectively non-dispatchable.
POWER PLANT ENGINEERING by A.K. Raja, Amit
Prakash Srivastava, and Manish Dwivedi.
https://www.alliantenergykids.com/AllAboutEnergy/Source
sandTypesofEnergy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_station
https://www.javatpoint.com/conventional-sources-of-
energy-vs-non-conventional-sources-of-energy
https://www.slideshare.net/RajneeshBudania/power-
station-or-power-plant-and-classification