What is a Natural Gas Power Plant?
Natural gas-fired power plants initiate electricity by burning natural gas to meet the need for fuel. Natural gas plants use gas turbines. The natural gas is added to the stream of air which later on conflagrates and enlarges in the turbine which will spin to generate electricity. The natural Gas Power Plant is considered the inexpensive and fastest process to build. Burning natural gas introduces fewer pollutants and particular matter than oil and coal.
Natural gas plants contain more excessive emissions than nuclear power plants. This action indicates that the quality of air can be enhanced when natural gas plants can be changed to coal plants but nuclear power works best to raise the quality of air. The natural contributes greatly to bringing a better climate change which leads to delivering methane and the use of electricity out of natural gas creates such emissions which can warm our world in many threatening ways.
How Does Electricity Generate in The Gas-Fired Power Plants?
The gas turbine working process or electricity generation process is a bit different than diesel power plants and other thermal power plants. In a gas turbine at first, the air can be achieved from the atmosphere and then will be flattened in the air compressor. This high-rise pressure will be passed to the chamber of combustion where it will be heated by the combustion of fuel. The product of combustion of high pressure and the temperature will proceed to the passages formed by the stationery and to the gas turbine which will be revolving.
The hot gases have been created to flow over the rings of blades transmitting rotary motion which will be transferred to the stem of the turbine. An enormous part of the power has been developed with the help of a turbine rotor and is absorbed to drive the compressor which contributes to air in pressure the combustion chamber. The outstanding power has been exploited to serve the external work.
What are the Types of Gas Power Plants?
The gas turbine power plant is one of the most renowned power plants that has taken popularity to generate electricity. There are two ways that gas-fired power plants such as
- Open cycle turbine.
- Combined cycle turbine.
Open Cycle Turbine
Open-cycle turbines are the most common method of gas-fired power plants. Natural gas is burned to create pressurized gas, which powers a turbine connected to a generator. In closed-cycle gas turbines, the gas that escapes from the gas turbine enters the cooling chamber. In an open cycle, the gases emitted from the gas turbine are exhausted into the atmosphere. The air is compressed in the compressor and then it is heated in the chamber. Since air is heated by an external source, the amount of gas remains the same.
Combined Cycle Turbine
The Combined-Cycle Gas and Steam Turbine (CCGT) plant generates energy using two different types of turbines, such as a gas turbine and a steam turbine. In short, it is used to maximize or generate electricity by recycling its fuel. Most power plants use this simple method of power generation purposes.
The hot gas is produced by burning natural gas and gives power to the turbine. The gases are hot enough to generate steam in a heat recovery boiler which is then used in a steam turbine. The combination of these two thermodynamic cycles increases the efficiency of the gas power plant by more than 50%, which is much higher than 35% to 40%.
Usually, a gas turbine power plant or gas-fired power station has a shaft of the turbine, alternator, air compressor, and other essential components. The mechanical power created in the turbine is partly used for air compression.
The gas turbine and alternator are coupled together and convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Gas turbine power plants are primarily used as a standby auxiliary power supplier for a hydroelectric power plant. It generates supporting energy when starting a hydroelectric plant.
How Much Cost of the Combined Cycle Power Plants?
Combined cycle power plants, defined as at least one combustion turbine and one steam turbine, operate at a much higher efficiency level than other power plants. Although the combined cycle power plant reduces operating costs in the long run the capital cost to build it is also higher. Combustion turbines make natural gas-fired power plants less efficient than combined cycles, resulting in higher operating costs, but less expensive to build combined-cycle power plants.
Both internal combustion engines and combustion turbine power generators have the added advantage of being able to be built much faster than combined cycle power plants. Combined cycle power plants have led to their use in situations where short-term capacity increases are needed to meet growing demand. Although combustion turbine plants are less efficient, they are operated only at the maximum time to meet demand. In contrast, combined-cycle plants are widely used to meet baseline demand loads due to their high efficiency and low operating costs.
Power plants that use natural gas have been the main driving force for increasing grid capacity in recent years, and 2020 was no exception. Suppose a natural gas power plant adds a total capacity of 7000 MW to the national grid in 2020. In the same year, the construction cost of the natural gas power plant was 1211 / kWh, while the total cost of $810kw/h, for the generator total cost was $5,318,955.
Three different types of technology are widely used in natural gas power plants. Each different technology has a significant impact on the total construction cost. If most of the power is added through combined-cycle natural gas power plants (4755 MW) and combustion turbines (1,553), then the internal combustion engines will be responsible for a small fraction of the added power (240). (It is an assumption).
What are the Applications of Gas Power Plants?
Turbines are extremely important because almost all electricity is generated from a turbine by converting mechanical energy into electrical energy through a generator.
- Gas turbine plants are widely used in power generation.
- There are different types of gas turbines such as small, medium, and large.
- It is widely used in turbopumps and rotary compressors.
- Gas turbines are also used in aircraft.
- This type of plant is used in heavy engines like diesel engines.
- Gas turbines are also used in marine engines.
- Gas turbines are widely used in wind power.
How is the Natural Gas Power Plant Cost?
Electricity is a key to developing the world. The world has indeed been changed by improving electrical generation capacity. Industrial application or industrial activities depends on electricity. For this reason, electrical energy plays an inevitable role in all sectors (home, office, industry, manufacturing company, etc.). Though there are different types of electrical power plants natural gas power plant is one of them. We know that electrical generation construction costs are very high. Construction cost depends on the types of power plants.
The natural gas power plant cost is high but it is cheaper than the Diesel power plants. The natural gas power plant construction cost is $812 per kilowatt as compared to the total cost of $5,318,957 for 74 generators in the same year. Construction cost is included with the place, turbine, transformer, alternator, fuel transportation system, etc. If we talk about the USA if the coal and natural gas combined cycle power plant operates then $11 to $27 is required per megawatt-hour.