ANALYSIS OF A COMBINED CYCLE EXPLOITING INLET CONDITIONING TECHNOLOGIES FOR POWER MODULATION

The high share of non-dispatchable renewable energy source generators in the electrical grid has increased the need for flexibility of Gas Turbine Combined Cycles (GTCC) already installed. To maximize not only the maximum power produced, via Power Augmentation Technologies (PATs), but also to reduce the Minimum Environmental Load (MEL), both OEMs and GTCC owners have adopted several technical solutions. This kind of flexibility has become, year-by-year, ever more crucial to guarantee GTCC economical sustainability. Amongst the solutions which can be adapted to guarantee GTCC flexibility, the Inlet Conditioning System is a particularly interesting technical solution, which can be installed without restrictions related to the different GT design. In this paper, an evaluation of the compressor inlet temperature effect over the Combined Cycle performance is presented, with a focus on the bottoming Cycle impact. Different Inlet Conditioning Strategies are then compared considering the energy, and the environmental impact on GTCC behavior. The performance of a layout including a Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and a Heat Pump (HP) is then evaluated and compared to other technical solutions.