UNIVERSITY

OF

CENTRE

PETROLEUM & ENERGY STUDIES

FOR

CONTINUING EDUCATION

EXECUTIVE MBA
(POWER MANAGEMENT)
SEMESTER IV
YEAR: 2014

SESSION: JULY

ASSIGNMENT 1
FOR
Power Station Management
(MDSP 831D)
(TO BE FILLED BY THE STUDENT)

NAME:
MARRAPU UDAYA BHANU NAIDU
SAP NO/REGN. NO: 500024907

Section A (20 Marks)

Write short notes on any four of the following

1. Electrical Substation: A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission,
and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or
perform any of several other important functions. Between the generating station and
consumer, electric power may flow through several substations at different voltage levels.
A substation may include transformers to change voltage levels between high
transmission voltages and lower distribution voltages, or at the interconnection of two
different transmission voltages. The word substation comes from the days before the
distribution system became a grid. As central generation stations became larger, smaller
generating plants were converted to distribution stations, receiving their energy supply
from a larger plant instead of using their own generators. The first substations were
connected to only one power station, where the generators were housed, and were
subsidiaries of that power station.
Substations generally have switching, protection and control equipment, and
transformers. In a large substation, circuit breakers are used to interrupt any short
circuits or overload currents that may occur on the network. Smaller distribution stations
may use recloser circuit breakers or fuses for protection of distribution circuits.
Substations themselves do not usually have generators, although a power plant may have
a substation nearby. Other devices such as capacitors and voltage regulators may also be
located at a substation.
Substations may be on the surface in fenced enclosures, underground, or located in
special-purpose buildings. High-rise buildings may have several indoor substations.
Indoor substations are usually found in urban areas to reduce the noise from the
transformers, for reasons of appearance, or to protect switchgear from extreme climate or
pollution conditions.
Where a substation has a metallic fence, it must be properly grounded to protect
people from high voltages that may occur during a fault in the network. Earth faults at a
substation can cause a ground potential rise. Currents flowing in the Earth's surface
during a fault can cause metal objects to have a significantly different voltage than the
ground under a person's feet; this touch potential presents a hazard of electrocution.
2. Thermal Power Station: A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime
mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which
drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is
condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this is known as a Rankine
cycle. The greatest variation in the design of thermal power stations is due to the
different fossil fuel resources generally used to heat the water. Some prefer to use the
term energy center because such facilities convert forms of heat energy into electrical
energy. Certain thermal power plants also are designed to produce heat energy for

industrial purposes of district heating, or desalination of water, in addition to generating

electrical power. Globally, fossil fueled thermal power plants produce a large part of manmade CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, and efforts to reduce these are varied and
widespread.
Almost all coal, nuclear, geothermal, solar thermal electric, and waste incineration plants,
as well as many natural gas power plants are thermal. Natural gas is
frequently combusted in gas turbines as well as boilers. The waste heat from a gas turbine
can be used to raise steam, in a combined cycle plant that improves overall efficiency.
Power plants burning coal, fuel oil, or natural gas are often called fossil-fuel power
plants. Some biomass-fueled thermal power plants have appeared also. Non-nuclear
thermal power plants, particularly fossil-fueled plants, which do not use co-generation are
sometimes referred to as conventional power plants.
Commercial electric utility power stations are usually constructed on a large scale and
designed for continuous operation. Electric power plants typically use threephase electrical generators to produce alternating current (AC) electric power at
a frequency of 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Large companies or institutions may have their own
power plants to supply heating or electricity to their facilities, especially if steam is
created anyway for other purposes. Steam-driven power plants have been used in various
large ships, but are now usually used in large naval ships. Shipboard power plants usually
directly couple the turbine to the ship's propellers through gearboxes. Power plants in
such ships also provide steam to smaller turbines driving electric generators to supply
electricity. Shipboard steam power plants can be either fossil fuel or nuclear. Nuclear
marine propulsion is, with few exceptions, used only in naval vessels. There have been
perhaps about a dozen turbo-electric ships in which a steam-driven turbine drives an
electric generator which powers an electric motor for propulsion.

3. Solar Power Plants: Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either
directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP).
Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a
large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into electric current
using the photovoltaic effect.
Photovoltaics were initially, and still are, used to power small and medium-sized
applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes
powered by a photovoltaic array. They are an important and relatively inexpensive source
of electrical energy where grid power is inconvenient, unreasonably expensive to
connect, or simply unavailable. However, as the cost of solar electricity is falling, solar
power is also increasingly being used even in grid-connected situations as a way to feed
low-carbon energy into the grid

Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s.
The 392 MW ISEGS CSP installation is the largest solar power plant in the world,
located in the Mojave Desert of California. Other large CSP plants include the SEGS(354
MW) in the Mojave Desert of California, the Solnova Solar Power Station (150 MW) and
the Andasol solar power station(150 MW), both in Spain. The 290 MW Agua Caliente
Solar Project in the United States, and the 221 MW Charanka Solar Park in India, are
the worlds largest photovoltaic power stations.
4. Method of Boiler Efficiency Calculation-49
5. Grid Connection
Section B (30 marks)

1.
2.
3.
4.

(Attempt any three)

Give an overview of the business benefits of power station management.
Define thermal station. Describe the classification of thermal stations.
Write short notes on:
a. Electromagnetic Generators
b. Electrostatic Generator.
Highlight the features of single-phase and three-phase electric power.
Section C (50 marks)
(Attempt all questions. Every question carries 10 marks)

Read the case Performance Analysis of Thermal Power Station: Case Study of Egbin Power
Station, Nigeria and answer the following questions:
Case Study: Performance Analysis of Thermal Power Station:
Case Study of Egbin Power Station, Nigeria
Egbin Thermal Plant
Egbin thermal plant is located at the suburb of Lagos State, Ijede area of Ikorodu. The plant was
commissioned in 1985 and consists of 6 units of 220 (6X220) MW (Reheat Regenerative).
They are dual fired (gas and heavy oil) system with modern control equipment, single reheat; six
stages regenerative feed heating. The plant was constructed under joint Japanese/ French
financing on a turnkey contract basis and most of the equipment were Japanese supplied. The
overall cost of the plant was US $ 1 billion with an expected life of 25 years. The estimate was

based on the fact that the plant should run mainly on natural gas which does not give the serious
boiler slag and ash problem characteristic of coal fuel. Natural gas is supplied to the plant
directly from the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC). Lagos operations department is the annexed to
Egbin gas station of the thermal plant. Since Egbin thermal plant is located on the shores of the
lagoon cooling water for the plants condensers is pumped from the lagoon into the water
treatment plant en route to the condensers.
Major Plant Components
The Boiler, Turbine and Generator (collectively known as the B-T-G system) are the most crucial
equipment required for the generation of electricity in steam power plants. All other equipments
in the station are termed auxiliaries and are needed for the smooth running of the boiler, turbine
and generator of the units in the station. According to Egbin Design Manuals the functions and
operating conditions of these plant components are x-rayed as follow:
Boiler: The Boiler is designed to produce flow of main steam at temperature of 5410C and
pressure of 12,500kPa and also to reheat steam from the turbine high pressure stages, from the
combustion of heavy fuel oil or natural gas.
Turbine: The Turbine is the impulse type, tandem-compound, double flow reheat, condensing
tube, with maximum continuous rating of 220MW, speed 3000rpm, initial steam pressure
12.5MPa, initial steam temperature 538oC, exhaust steam pressure 8.5kPa, twenty-four (24)
stages (eight (8) high, six (6) intermediate and 10 (5*2) low pressure stages) and with three (3)
low pressure heaters, two (2) high pressure heaters and one (1) de-aerator, which receives dry
steam from the boiler and rotates a shaft coupled to the rotor of the generator to generate power.
Generator: The Generator is the radiant type, 3-phase, 2-pole, hydrogen-cooled, with output
voltage of 16kV, power of 245.8MVA (221.22MW), speed 3000rpm, 0.9 power factor, exciting
voltage of 440V, 50Hz frequency, armature current of 8870A and field current of 2781A, ambient
temperature of 45oC, armature temperature rise of 55oC, field temperature rise of 65oC, and
with natural circulation with single reheat and duct firing.
Performance of Steam Power Plants
The choice of a steam turbine power plant depends on its performance, which depends on five
factors:

Capacity of plant

Plants load factor and capacity factor

Thermal (and overall) efficiency

Reliability

Availability of water for condensate.

Efficiency
The thermal efficiency of steam power plants, defined as the ratio of heat equivalent of
mechanical energy transmitted to the turbine shaft is quite low (about 30%). The thermal
efficiency of a power plant depends on three (3) factors which include, the pressure of steam
entering turbine, the temperature of steam entering turbine and the pressure in the condenser. It
increases by increasing the temperature and pressure of the steam entering the turbine,
decreasing the pressure in the condenser, re-heating steam between turbine stages and by
bleeding steam along the heating lines. In order to increase the efficiency of steam power plants,
heat/loss saving devices such as reheaters, superheaters, economizers, preheaters among others
are incorporated in the design.
Overall efficiency of the plant, defined as the ratio of heat equivalent of electrical output to the
heat of combustion is about 29%. In case of most modern super-criticalpressure steam plants
employing many heat saving devices, the plant overall efficiency may reach the value of 50%
(i.e. with a supercritical temperature of about 600oC, overall efficiency could be just over 40%
while with ultra supercritical temperature of around 700oC, efficiency may be improved to
around 50%). The overall efficiency of steam power station is low mainly due a large amount of
heat (over 50%) that lost in condensers and secondly heat that wasted in other parts of the plant
(boiler, alternator etc). The heat loss in the condenser is unavoidable since heat energy cannot be
converted into mechanical energy without temperature difference. The greater the temperature
difference, the greater is the heat energy converted into mechanical energy. This necessitates
keeping the temperature of the condenser to a minimum value. But the greater the temperature
difference, the greater the amount of heat lost. This explains the low efficiency of steam plants.
Reliability
Reliability is the probability that a device or system will operate for a given period of time
without failure, and under given operating conditions. Reliability of a system is the characteristic
of the system that it will perform its required function under stated conditions for a specified
period of time. The concept of reliability is associated, in qualitative terms, with good design,

endurance, consistent quality, maintainability and dependability. With adequate maintenance, the
reliability of a power plant may approach 1 (that is, 100%).
Constraints and Limiting Factors

Irregularities in figures for some data obtained from the plant.

Constant fluctuation and irregularity of plant loading due to constant

fluctuations in the transmission efficiency of the national grid as controlled by

the National Control Centre (NCC), Oshogbo.

Unavailability of some records for some of the period under review (2000 -

2004) as the Performance Management Department of the Plant was only set up

in 2005.

Breakdown of equipment, as some of the units were out of service during the

period under review.

Conclusion
Performance analysis of Egbin Thermal Plant has been carried out with specific emphasis on the
Efficiency and Reliability of the plant. For the eleven (11) years under review (2000-2010), the
study revealed that the average overall efficiency was 34.67% (30.30% minimum; 36.60
maximum) as against expected values of 40-45%. The average reliability of the plant, for the
period under review, was 80.92% (69.47 minimum; 79.73 maximum) as against best
practices/target of 98-100%. A number of reasons were adduced to be responsible for this
shortfall in performance. These include: low plant availability due to breakdowns/failures,
overdue overhaul of units, obsolete technology, instability of the national grid system, aging
plant components, disruption in gas supply among others. Measures to improve the performance
indices (efficiency and reliability) of the plant have been suggested and this include: overhaul
maintenance of due plant equipment/units, training and re-training of operation and maintenance
(O&M) personnel, upgrading obsolete technology, ensuring security of gas supply and
rehabilitation of failed equipment.

Questions:
1. Highlight the features of the Thermal power plants.
2. Throw light on the Egbin Power Plant.
Egbin thermal plant is located at the suburb of Lagos State, Ijede area of Ikorodu. The
plant was commissioned in 1985 and consists of 6 units of 220 (6X220) MW (Reheat
Regenerative). They are dual fired (gas and heavy oil) system with modern control
equipment, single reheat; six stages regenerative feed heating. The plant was constructed
under joint Japanese/ French financing on a turnkey contract basis and most of the
equipment were Japanese supplied. The overall cost of the plant was US $ 1 billion with
an expected life of 25 years. The estimate was based on the fact that the plant should run
mainly on natural gas which does not give the serious boiler slag and ash problem
characteristic of coal fuel. Natural gas is supplied to the plant directly from the Nigerian
Gas Company (NGC). Lagos operations department is the annexed to Egbin gas station
of the thermal plant. Since Egbin thermal plant is located on the shores of the lagoon
cooling water for the plants condensers is pumped from the lagoon into the water
treatment plant en route to the condensers.
3. What are the factors that affect the performance of Thermal Power plant?
The following five factors are affected the performance of Thermal Power Plant
Capacity of plant

Plants load factor and capacity factor

Thermal (and overall) efficiency

Reliability

Availability of water for condensate.

4. Comment on the constraints and the limiting factors mentioned in the above case.
Constraints and Limiting Factors:

Irregularities in figures for some data obtained from the plant.

Constant fluctuation and irregularity of plant loading due to constant

fluctuations in the transmission efficiency of the national grid as controlled by

the National Control Centre (NCC), Oshogbo.

Unavailability of some records for some of the period under review (2000 -

2004) as the Performance Management Department of the Plant was only set
up

in 2005.

Breakdown of equipment, as some of the units were out of service during the

period under review.

Comments: Due to deficiency in record keeping/filing systems, there were some

records that could not be readily available. Though the utility was commissioned in
1985, the records of the running hours, gross energy generated total fuel energy
consumed etc could not be found and so were not used for our analysis. It is very
difficult to review or make the analysis.
5. Describe the major plant components.
The Boiler, Turbine and Generator (collectively known as the B-T-G system) are
the most crucial equipment required for the generation of electricity in steam power
plants. All other equipments in the station are termed auxiliaries and are needed for the
smooth running of the boiler, turbine and generator of the units in the station. According
to Egbin Design Manuals the functions and operating conditions of these plant
components are x-rayed as follow:
1. Boiler: The Boiler is designed to produce flow of main steam at temperature of
5410C and pressure of 12,500kPa and also to reheat steam from the turbine high
pressure stages, from the combustion of heavy fuel oil or natural gas.
2. Turbine: The Turbine is the impulse type, tandem-compound, double flow reheat,
condensing tube, with maximum continuous rating of 220MW, speed 3000rpm, initial
steam pressure 12.5MPa, initial steam temperature 538oC, exhaust steam pressure
8.5kPa, twenty-four (24) stages (eight (8) high, six (6) intermediate and 10 (5*2) low
pressure stages) and with three (3) low pressure heaters, two (2) high pressure heaters
and one (1) de-aerator, which receives dry steam from the boiler and rotates a shaft
coupled to the rotor of the generator to generate power.
3. Generator: The Generator is the radiant type, 3-phase, 2-pole, hydrogen-cooled, with
output voltage of 16kV, power of 245.8MVA (221.22MW), speed 3000rpm, 0.9
power factor, exciting voltage of 440V, 50Hz frequency, armature current of 8870A

and field current of 2781A, ambient temperature of 45oC, armature temperature rise
of 55oC, field temperature rise of 65oC, and with natural circulation with single
reheat and duct firing.