Prospects for Decreasing the Amount of Water Use by Thermal Power Plants in Russia through Application of Heat Pumps

The article considers the main factors influencing the annual economic gain from decreasing the payment for the water use by a thermal power plant (TPP) in the case of applying heat pumps in the steam turbine condenser cooling system. For the conditions of Russia, an expected variation range of tax rates for withdrawal of water resources from a source is established depending on the TPP service cooling water system's location and type, and the potential decrease in the amounts of water use by a TPP is determined. With reference to combined cycle technologies, the maximal power capacity of the heat pump that can be installed at a combined cycle TPP is estimated subject to the condition of plant lossless operation in the Russian wholesale market of electricity and power. A tentative variation range of the heat pump unit's operation time in using thermal energy both in the TPP production processes and for heating purposes is estimated. For the conditions of Russia, the territorial distribution of the maximal expected economic gain from decreased amounts of water use owing to heat pump application in the TPP condenser cooling system is estimated. The effect the economic gain obtained from decreasing the amounts of water use has on the key indicators of an investment project on introducing a heat power unit with a thermal capacity of 50 MW at a TPP under the conditions of St. Petersburg is analyzed for different service cooling water-supply systems. The integral economic gain obtained from decreasing the amounts of water use in implementing such a project for the entire service life of the heat pump used as part of the TPP equipment is expected to be 182.7 million rubles with a once-through water-supply system, 2.6 million rubles with a circulation water system with a cooling tower, and 2.0 million rubles with a circulation water system with a pond.