Power Generation Technologies (eBook)

Cover 1
Table of contents 6
List of figures 10
List of tables 12
1 Introduction to electricity generation 14
History of the electricity generation industry 14
The evolution of electricity generation technologies 15
The politics of electricity 17
The size of the industry 18
End notes 20
2 Environmental considerations 21
The evolution of environmental awareness 21
The environmental effects of power generation 23
The carbon cycle and atmospheric warming 23
Controlling carbon dioxide 25
The hydrogen economy 26
Externalities 27
Life-cycle assessment 28
The bottom line 30
End notes 30
3 Coal-fired power plants 31
Types of coal 32
Coal cleaning and processing 33
Traditional coal-burning power plant technology 34
Boiler technology 35
Steam turbine design 37
Generators 39
Emission control for traditional coal-burning plants 40
Coal treatment 41
Low nitrogen oxides burners 41
Sulphur dioxide removal 42
Nitrogen oxides capture strategies 43
Combined sulphur and nitrogen oxides removal 43
Particulate removal 44
Mercury removal 44
Carbon dioxide 45
Advanced coal-burning power plant technology 46
Fluidised-bed combustion 46
Integrated-gasification combined cycle 48
Environmental effects of coal combustion 50
Financial risks associated with coal-fired power generation 51
The cost of coal-fired electricity generation 53
End notes 54
4 Gas turbines and combined cycle power plants 56
Natural gas 57
Natural gas costs 58
Gas turbine technology 59
Modern gas turbine design 61
Advanced gas turbine design 63
Reheating 63
Intercooling 65
Mass injection 65
Recuperation 66
Distributed generation 66
Combined cycle power plants 66
Micro turbines 68
Environmental impact of gas turbines 68
Nitrogen oxides 69
Carbon dioxide 69
Carbon monoxide and particulates 70
Financial risks associated with gas-turbine-based power projects 70
Technological risk 70
Fuel risk 71
The cost of gas turbine power stations 72
End notes 74
5 Combined heat and power 75
History 76
Applications 77
CHP technology 78
Piston engines 79
Steam turbines 80
Gas turbines 81
Micro turbines 82
Fuel cells 83
Nuclear power 83
Environmental considerations 84
Noise 84
Heat 85
Energy efficiency 85
Financial risks 86
Cost of CHP 86
End notes 87
6 Piston-engine-based power plants 88
Piston engine technology 89
Engine size and speed 91
Spark-ignition engines 91
Compression engines 92
Dual fuel engines 93
Stirling engines 93
Co-generation 94
Combined cycle 95
Environmental considerations 96
Emission control 97
Carbon dioxide 98
Financial risks 98
Costs 99
End notes 100
7 Fuel cells 102
The fuel cell principle 103
Fuel cell chemistry 103
Catalysts 105
Hydrocarbon gas reformation 106
Types of fuel cell 106
Phosphoric acid fuel cell 107
Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell 109
Molten carbonate fuel cells 110
Solid oxide fuel cells 112
Environmental considerations 114
Financial risks 115
Fuel cell costs 115
End notes 116
8 Hydropower 117
The hydropower resource 118
Hydro sites 119
Dams and barrages 120
Run-of-river project 120
Reservoir projects 121
Turbines 122
Impulse turbines 123
Reaction turbines 123
Francis turbine 124
Propeller and Kaplan turbines 125
Generators 126
Small hydropower 126
The environment 127
Inundation 128
Sedimentation 128
Inter-regional effects 129
Greenhouse gases 129
Human rights 129
Financial risks 130
Geological risk 130
Hydrological risk 131
The cost of hydropower 132
End notes 133
9 Tidal power 135
Tidal motion 135
The tidal resource 136
Tidal technology 137
Tidal barrages 138
Two-basin projects 139
Bunded reservoir 140
Turbines 140
Speed regulation 141
Sluices and shiplocks 142
Modes of operation 142
Environmental considerations 142
Financial risks 143
The cost of tidal power 144
End note 146
10 Storage technologies 147
Types of energy storage 148
Pumped storage hydropower 149
Plant design 150
Turbines 150
Global exploitation 151
Financial risks 152
Costs 152
Compressed air energy storage 152
Storage caverns 153
Turbine technology 154
Global exploitation 155
Financial risk 155
Costs 155
Large-scale batteries 156
Lead acid batteries 157
Nickel–cadmium batteries 157
Sodium–sulphur batteries 157
Flow batteries 157
Financial risks 158
Costs 158
Superconducting magnetic energy storage 159
Financial risks 160
Costs 160
Flywheels 160
Financial risks 161
Costs 161
Capacitors 161
Hydrogen 162
Environmental considerations 162
Renewable energy 163
Costs 164
End notes 165
11 Wind power 166
Wind sites 168
Locating a site 169
Turbulence 169
Wind turbines 169
Turbine size 170
Horizontal or vertical? 171
Rotor design 173
Tower design 174
Drive train and generator 174
Wind farms and grid connection 175
Offshore wind technology 176
Constraints on wind capacity 177
Environmental considerations 177
Offshore wind 179
Financial risks 179
The cost of wind power 180
End notes 181
12 Geothermal power 183
The geothermal resource 184
Geothermal fields 185
Brine–methane reservoirs 186
Hot dry rock 187
Exploiting the magma 187
Location of geothermal resources 187
Geothermal energy conversion technology 188
Direct-steam power plant 189
Flash-steam plants 190
Binary power plants 191
Environmental considerations 192
Financial risks 193
The cost of geothermal power 194
End notes 195
13 Solar power 197
The solar energy resource 197
Sites for solar power generation 198
Solar technology 199
Solar thermal power generation 199
Parabolic troughs 200
Solar towers 203
Solar dish collectors 204
Photovoltaic devices 205
Solar photovoltaic technology 206
Types of solar cell 207
Solar cell manufacture 208
Solar panels and inverters 208
Solar cell deployment 209
Utility photovoltaic arrays 209
Solar concentrators 209
Residential photovoltaic arrays 210
Environmental considerations 211
Financial risks 212
The cost of solar power 213
Solar thermal costs 213
Solar photovoltaic costs 214
End notes 215
14 Ocean power 217
Ocean energy resource 217
Ocean thermal energy conversion 219
Open and closed cycle ocean thermal energy conversion 220
Technical challenges 221
Hybrid applications 222
Browsing ocean thermal energy conversion 222
The environmental impact of ocean thermal energy conversion 222
The cost of ocean thermal energy conversion 223
Wave energy 223
Shore and near-shore wave converters 224
1. Oscillating water columns 224
2. Tapered channels 225
3. Oscillating flaps 225
Offshore devices 226
1. Float pumps 226
2. Ducks, wave pumps and other water snakes 226
3. Piezoelectric devices 227
The environmental implications of wave energy converters 227
The cost of wave energy conversion 227
Ocean current generation 228
Horizontal axis turbines 228
Vertical axis turbines 229
Other tidal stream energy extractors 229
Ocean current environmental considerations 230
Cost of ocean current technology 230
End notes 230
15 Biomass-based power generation 232
Types of biomass 233
Biomass wastes 234
Energy crops 235
Biomass energy conversion technology 237
Direct firing 237
Co-firing 239
Biomass gasification 240
Biomass digesters 241
Liquid fuels 241
Environmental considerations 242
Life-cycle assessment 243
Energy crops 243
Waste fuels 244
Financial risks 244
Agricultural risk 245
The cost of biomass generated power 245
Technology costs 245
Fuel costs 246
Electricity costs 246
End notes 247
16 Power from waste 248
Landfill waste disposal 248
Waste sources 249
Waste composition 250
Waste collection 251
Waste power generation technologies 252
Traditional combustion plants 253
Gasification and pyrolysis 254
Refuse-derived fuel 256
Environmental considerations 256
Waste plant emissions 257
Ash 257
Fly ash and flue gas treatment residues 258
Flue gas 258
Dioxins 258
Heavy metals 259
Financial risks 259
The cost of energy from waste 260
End notes 260
17 Nuclear power 262
Global nuclear capacity 263
The future 264
Fundamentals of nuclear power 264
Nuclear fission 265
Controlled nuclear reaction 266
Fusion 267
Nuclear reactors 267
Boiling water reactor 268
Pressurised water reactor 269
Canadian deuterium uranium reactor 270
Advanced gas-cooled reactor 271
High-temperature gas-cooled reactor 271
Breeder (fast) reactors 272
Advanced reactor designs 273
Nuclear fusion 273
Environmental considerations 273
Radioactive waste 275
Waste categories 276
Decommissioning 276
Financial risks associated with investing in nuclear power 277
The cost of nuclear power 278
End notes 279
Index 280