Power boosting of a combined cycle power plant in Jordan: An integration of hybrid inlet cooling & solar systems

Many developing countries like Jordan, suffer from the lack of natural resources required to supply their energy demand. As such, maximum utilization of the available energy and renewable resources becomes a necessity. ALQatrana powerplant in Jordan; operating on a combined cycle suffers from sensitivity to ambient air temperatures and the lack of full utilization of waste heat of the flue gas. In this work, the plant was simulated using the engineering equation solver, and the simulation was validated against the actual powerplant data. A cascade of absorption and mechanical chillers for inlet air cooling, along with a CSP system were proposed. These auxiliary systems were also simulated and validated against literature, then integrated with the actual power plant cycle. Results showed that using the hybrid system for inlet air cooling with a combined cycle, can be more appealing in terms of power boosting and economical profit, compared to using either alone. The proposed system showed a relative increase in power by 22.8%, a 4.3% increased efficiency, and a relative decrease in SFC by 8.4%, compared to the actual power plant. Moreover, due to the hybrid inlet air cooling unit, the system exhibited low sensitivity to variation in ambient temperatures; hence, a stable power augmentation with relative change of only 0.9% over the range of temperatures (10-50)degrees C Additionally, compared to a duct burner integration, the proposed system, led to 6.4 million dollars annual saving in fuel consumption, with a 15% less CO2 emission for equivalent power production. A comprehensive feasibility study was also performed; showing a return of investment period equal to 5.3 years, which is very promising.