Economic Evaluation of Industrial Gas Turbines for Electrical Power Generation

This paper looks at some of the financial implications of generating electricity using a 165 MW gas turbine based power plant operating in a warm coastal environment. The engine performance model is developed using the Turbomatch in-house software package capable of simulating engine performance at both design and off-design conditions. Given the long operational life of the power plant, the economic model uses the Net Present Value (NPV) technique to simulate and account for the time value of money. This allows techno-economic comparisons between various modes of operation and variations in power demand to be made. The modelling will be used to optimise operation using key economic and performance parameters. The modelling is based on the Techno-Economic, Environmental and Risk Analysis (TERA) philosophy which allows for a broad and multidimensional analysis of the problem to aid plant operation and equipment selection. The analysis shows that 30 °C increase in ambient temperature above the design point results in 11.5% increase in the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The analysis also shows that the LCOE is increased by 4.3 as a result of 5% degradation in turbine compressor.