COMPARISON OF AVAILABLE AND FUTURE GAS TURBINE POWER AUGMENTATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR VARIOUS CLIMATIC SCENARIOS

The growing demand of energy of 1.6% per year in the period 2006÷2030 [1], coupled with the need for flexibility, have forced power producers towards new techniques for power enhancement. Moreover, the Gas Turbine (GT) loss of performance with the increase of ambient temperature becomes a key problem especially considering that the peaks of electricity demand often occur during noon and/or summer months. On this basis, the GT performance augmentation becomes a key strategy; to achieve this goal, there exist several Power Augmentation Technologies (PATs) such as combustion chamber injection systems or turbine inlet air cooling systems, which will be analyzed in the present study. It is important to highlight that in this study, the analyzed PATs, do not involve a modification or a redesign of the GTs on which they are applied. The purpose of the presented study is to create a tool with the aim of helping GT installers and/or final users to choose the most suitable PAT depending on the site climatic scenario and the gas turbine typology (heavy duty or aeroderivative). To achieve this goal, the PATs under investigation have been analyzed with reference to two machines and to several worldwide climatic scenarios. The produced energy and average net efficiency, according to an entire year of operation, will be presented and discussed.