Dynamic simulation of combined cycle power plant cycling in the electricity market

The energy markets deregulation coupled with the rapid spread of unpredictable energy sources power units are stressing the necessity of improving traditional power plants flexibility. Cyclic operation guarantees high profits in the short term but, in the medium-long time, cause a lifetime reduction due to thermo-mechanical fatigue, creep and corrosion. In this context, Combined Cycle Power Plants are the most concerned in flexible operation problems. For this reason, two research groups from two Italian universities have developed a procedure to estimate the devices lifetime reduction with a particular focus on steam drums and superheaters/reheaters. To assess the lifetime reduction, it is essential to predict the thermodynamic variables trend in order to describe the plant behaviour. Therefore, the core of the procedure is the power plant dynamic model. At this purpose, in this paper, three different dynamic models of the same single pressure Combined Cycle Gas Turbine are presented. The models have been built using three different approaches and are used to simulate plant behaviour under real operating conditions. Despite these differences, the thermodynamic parameters time profiles are in good accordance as presented in the paper. At last, an evaluation of the drum lifetime reduction is performed.