Thermal analysis of an integrated solar combined cycle power plant and its application in southern Iraq

Abstract

Recently, simple cycles have played an essential role in generating electricity in Iraq. However, these devices suffer from low thermal efficiency and low power output. In the present work, a theoretical study was conducted with the aim of improving the performance of (the AL-Amara power plant 125 MW). The current work consists of three parts: The first part focuses on the impact of ambient temperature on the performance of simple circuits, including mass flow, power output, thermal efficiency, and other parameters. In the second part, modifications from simple to combined cycles are implanted. The third part examines the benefits of using solar systems to produce more steam to feed heat recovery steam generators, which hope to generate more electricity and reduce emissions. For a simple gas turbine installation, the results show that the mass flow rate decreases almost (10.8%) as the ambient temperature increases from (15-50) °C. However, the reduction in air mass flow significantly reduced power output and thermal efficiency (22.6% and 13.2%, respectively). In the second part, the application of the combined mode shows significant improvements in power output and thermal efficiency (32.5% and 32.3%, respectively). The specific fuel consumption dropped by nearly 32.19%. Finally, in the third part, the collected results show that there is an acceptable increase in the amount of steam generated by the solar system (21.02 kg/s) when using the solar system. The overall performance of the integrated cycle shows that the power output and thermal efficiency are almost improved (11.28% and 10% respectively).