Cogeneration is simultaneous
production of two energies -
power and heat.
Conventionally, both the above
energies are dealt with
independently and either
generated or derived separately;
power from grid or DG sets and
steam from boiler. Cogeneration
helps to optimise energy costs by
reducing fuel consumption up to
25 per cent as compared to
conventional captive power plants.
Gas turbine becomes an
automatic choice for combined
power and heat applications -
especially in the areas where
Power:Heat ratio is 1:1.5. The main
reason being high-grade thermal
energy available from gas turbine
exhausts (Typical 64 per cent).
The overall plant efficiency can
reach up to 85 per cent if full heat
is utilised.
Gas Turbine cogeneration finds
applications in several industries
requiring lot of heat energy (For
example, textiles, dyes and
chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
ceramics and so on). These
industries can benefit immensely
by implementing cogeneration
through reduction in energy bills
by 40 per cent to 50 per cent
depending on existing source of
energy. For commercial complexes
where direct heat energy is not
required the exhaust is put in a
direct fired 'absorption chiller' to
give free air-conditioning.
Viability
Gas turbine scores over its
competing technologies when it
comes to Combined Heat and
Power (CHP) applications. In
conventional technology a
separate boiler/heat generator
would be required to generate the
process steam/heat since the
exhaust is not sufficient to meet
the total demand. Gas Turbine
Cogeneration on the other hand
can meet very high heat/steam
demands. Further, due to excess
oxygen (16 per cent) in the
exhaust, supplementary firing is
possible to take care of any
....CONTD
