Khulna University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Course No: EE 4217

Course Title: Power Plant Engineering
Credit: 3.00

Presented By
Protik Chandra Biswas
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Khulna University of Engineering & Technology,
Khulna-9203, Bangladesh
References

1. Power Plant Engineering

=> G. R. Nagpal

2. Elements of Electrical Power Station Design

=> M. V. Deshpande

3. Principles of Power System

=> V. K. Mehta & Rohit Mehta

4. Power Plant Engineering

=> P. K. Nag

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Syllabus

Planning of Power Plant

Types of power plants, generating capacity and selection of plants,

types of load and their effects, site selection for different plants

Typical layout of a substation and load curves

Demand factor, diversity factor, load duration curves, energy load

curve, load factor, capacity factor, plant use factor and load
forecasting

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Syllabus

Station Performance

Efficiency, depreciation of plant, heat rate and incremental rate,

load division between generating units for economy, cost and tariff,
generation scheduling: deterministic and probabilistic

Reliability Concepts

Failure rate, outage, mean time of failure, series and parallel

systems and redundancy, reliability evaluation techniques

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Importance of electrical energy

❑ Advancement of a country is measured in terms of per capita consumption of

electrical energy.

❑ Electrical energy is superior to all forms of energy due to the following reasons:

➢ Convenient form

➢ Easy Control

➢ Greater Flexibility

➢ Cheapness

➢ Cleanliness

➢ High transmission efficiency

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 Generation of electrical energy

➢ The conversion of energy available in different forms in nature into electrical energy is known as
generation of electrical energy.

➢ Energy is available in various forms from different natural sources such as pressure head of water,
chemical energy of fuels, nuclear energy of radioactive substances etc.

➢ All these forms of energy can be converted into electrical energy by the use of suitable arrangements.
The arrangement essentially employs (see Fig. 1) an alternator coupled to a prime mover.

Fig. 1

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Sources of energy

Conventional sources of energy Non-conventional sources of energy

➢ Fuels ➢ Solar energy

Solid fuels

Liquid fuels ➢ Wind energy

Gaseous fuels ➢ Tidal power

➢ Energy stored in water
➢ Geo thermal energy
➢ Nuclear energy
➢ Bio-gas and bio-mass

➢ Magneto-hydro-dynamic (MHD) plant

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 Comparison of conventional energy sources

➢ The chief sources of energy used for the generation of electrical energy are water, fuels and nuclear
energy.

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 Power plant/Generating station

➢ Power plant is an assembly of equipment that produces and delivers mechanical and electrical
energy. Electrical equipment of a power station includes generators, transformers, switch gears and
control gears.

➢ Bulk electric power is produced by special plants known as generating stations or power plants.

➢ A generating station essentially employs a prime mover coupled to an alternator for the production
of electric power. The prime mover (e.g., steam turbine, water turbine etc.) converts energy from
some other form into mechanical energy. The alternator converts mechanical energy of the prime
mover into electrical energy.

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 Types of power plants

➢ On the basis of fuel used:

i. Steam Power Plant Condensing power plant

Non-condensing power plant

ii. Diesel power plant

iii. Nuclear power plant
iv. Hydro electric power plant
v. Gas-turbine power plant

➢ On the basis of nature of load

i. Base load power plant
ii. Peak load power plant

➢ On the basis of location ➢ On the basis of service rendered

i. Central power station i. Stationary
ii. Isolated power station ii. Locomotive
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Requirements of power plant design

The factors to be considered while designing a power station are follows:

➢ Economy of expenditure i.e.

(i) Minimum capital cost
(ii) Minimum operating and maintenance cost

➢ Safety of plant and personnel

➢ Degree of reliability
➢ Efficiency
➢ Ease of maintenance
➢ Minimum transmission loss
➢ Transport facilities
➢ Availability of water for the purpose of cooling
➢ Nature of load
➢ Good working conditions

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 Steam power plant (Thermal station)

➢ Steam power plant: A generating station which converts heat energy of coal combustion into
electrical energy is known as a steam power station.

Advantages: Disadvantages:
➢ The fuel (i.e., coal) used is quite cheap. ➢ It pollutes the atmosphere due to the
➢ Less initial cost as compared to other production of large amount of smoke and
generating stations. fumes.

➢ It can be installed at any place irrespective ➢ It is costlier in running cost as compared to

of the existence of coal. The coal can be hydroelectric plant.
transported to the site of the plant by rail or
road.
➢ It requires less space as compared to the
hydroelectric power station.
➢ The cost of generation is lesser than that of
the diesel power station.

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Steam power plant (Thermal station)

Choice of site for steam power stations:

➢ Supply of fuel

➢ Availability of water

➢ Transportation facilities

➢ Cost and type of land

➢ Nearness to load centres

➢ Distance from populated area

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 Hydro-electric power station

➢ Hydro-electric power station: A generating station which utilises the potential energy of water at a
high level for the generation of electrical energy is known as a hydro-electric power station.

Advantages:
➢ It requires no fuel as water is used for the generation of electrical energy.
➢ It is quite neat and clean as no smoke or ash is produced.
➢ It requires very small running charges because water is the source of energy which is available free
of cost.
➢ It is comparatively simple in construction and requires less maintenance.
➢ It does not require a long starting time like a steam power station. In fact, such plants can be put
into service instantly.
➢ It is robust and has a longer life.
➢ Such plants serve many purposes. In addition to the generation of electrical energy, they
➢ also help in irrigation and controlling floods.
➢ Although such plants require the attention of highly skilled persons at the time of construction, yet
for operation, a few experienced persons may do the job well.

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 Hydro-electric power station

Disadvantages:
➢ It involves high capital cost due to construction of dam.
➢ There is uncertainty about the availability of huge amount of water due to dependence on weather
conditions.
➢ Skilled and experienced hands are required to build the plant.
➢ It requires high cost of transmission lines as the plant is located in hilly areas which are quite away
from the consumers.

Choice of site for hydro-electric power stations:

➢ Availability of water at a good head

➢ Storage of water
➢ Cost and type of land
➢ Transportation facilities

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 Diesel power station

➢ Diesel power station: A generating station in which diesel engine is used as the prime mover for the
generation of electrical energy is known as diesel power station.

Advantages:
➢ The design and layout of the plant are quite simple.
➢ It occupies less space as the number and size of the
auxiliaries is small.
➢ It can be located at any place.
➢ It can be started quickly and can pick up load in a
short time.
➢ There are no standby losses.
➢ It requires less quantity of water for cooling.
➢ The overall cost is much less than that of steam power
station of the same capacity.
➢ The thermal efficiency of the plant is higher than that
of a steam power station.
➢ It requires less operating staff.
Disadvantages:
➢ The plant has high running charges as the
fuel (i.e., diesel) used is costly.
➢ The plant does not work satisfactorily under
overload conditions for a longer period.
➢ The plant can only generate small power.
➢ The cost of lubrication is generally high.
➢ The maintenance charges are generally
high.
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 Nuclear power station

➢ Nuclear power station: A generating station in which nuclear energy is converted into electrical
energy is known as a nuclear power station.

Advantages:

➢ The amount of fuel required is quite small. Therefore, there is a considerable saving in the cost of
fuel transportation.
➢ A nuclear power plant requires less space as compared to any other type of the same size.
➢ It has low running charges as a small amount of fuel is used for producing bulk electrical
➢ energy.
➢ This type of plant is very economical for producing bulk electric power.
➢ It can be located near the load centres because it does not require large quantities of water and
need not be near coal mines. Therefore, the cost of primary distribution is reduced.
➢ There are large deposits of nuclear fuels available all over the world. Therefore, such plants can
ensure continued supply of electrical energy for thousands of years.
➢ It ensures reliability of operation.

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 Nuclear power station

Disadvantages:
➢ The fuel used is expensive and is difficult to recover.
➢ The capital cost on a nuclear plant is very high as compared to other types of plants.
➢ The erection and commissioning of the plant requires greater technical know-how.
➢ The fission by-products are generally radioactive and may cause a dangerous amount of radioactive
pollution.
➢ Maintenance charges are high due to lack of standardisation. Moreover, high salaries of specially
trained personnel employed to handle the plant further raise the cost.
➢ Nuclear power plants are not well suited for varying loads as the reactor does not respond to the
load fluctuations efficiently.
➢ The disposal of the by-products, which are radioactive, is a big problem. They have either to be
disposed off in a deep trench or in a sea away from sea-shore

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Nuclear power station

Selection of site for nuclear power station:

➢ Availability of water

➢ Disposal of waste

➢ Distance from populated areas

➢ Transportation facilities

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 Gas turbine power plant

➢ Gas turbine power plant: A generating station which employs gas turbine as the prime mover for the
generation of electrical energy is known as a gas turbine power plant.

Advantages:

➢ It is simple in design as compared to steam power station since no boilers and their auxiliaries are
required.
➢ It is much smaller in size as compared to steam power station of the same capacity.
➢ The initial and operating costs are much lower than that of equivalent steam power station.
➢ It requires comparatively less water as no condenser is used.
➢ The maintenance charges are quite small.
➢ Gas turbines are much simpler in construction and operation than steam turbines.
➢ It can be started quickly form cold conditions.
➢ There are no standby losses. However, in a steam power station, these losses occur because boiler
is kept in operation even when the steam turbine is supplying no load.

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Gas turbine power plant

Disadvantages:

➢ There is a problem for starting the unit. It is because before starting the turbine, the compressor
has to be operated for which power is required from some external source.
➢ Since a greater part of power developed by the turbine is used in driving the compressor, the net
output is low.
➢ The overall efficiency of such plants is low (about 20%) because the exhaust gases from the
turbine contain sufficient heat.
➢ The temperature of combustion chamber is quite high (3000oF) so that its life is comparatively
reduced

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Comparison of the various power plants

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Comparison of the various power plants

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Main parts of a power system

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 Sub-station

➢ Sub-station: The assembly of apparatus used to change some characteristic (e.g. voltage, a.c. to d.c.,
frequency, power factor etc.) of electric supply is called a sub-station.

The following are the important points which must be kept in view while laying out a sub-station:

➢ It should be located at a proper site. As far as possible, it should be located at the centre of gravity of
load.

➢ It should provide safe and reliable arrangement. For safety, consideration must be given to the
maintenance of regulation clearances, facilities for carrying out repairs and maintenance, abnormal
occurrences such as possibility of explosion or fire etc.

➢ It should be easily operated and maintained.

➢ It should involve minimum capital cost.

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 Classification of sub-stations

There are several ways of classifying sub-stations. However, the two most important ways of classifying
them are according to (1) service requirement and (2) constructional features.
According to service requirement:
➢ Transformer sub-stations: Those sub-stations which change the voltage level of electric supply are called
transformer sub-stations. These sub-stations receive power at some voltage and deliver it at some other
voltage. Most of the sub-stations in the power system are of this type.

➢ Switching sub-stations: These sub-stations do not change the voltage level i.e. incoming and outgoing lines
have the same voltage. However, they simply perform the switching operations of power lines.

➢ Power factor correction sub-stations: Those sub-stations which improve the power factor of the system are
called power factor correction sub-stations. Such sub-stations are generally located at the receiving end of
transmission lines.

➢ Frequency changer sub-stations: Those sub-stations which change the supply frequency are known as
frequency changer sub-stations. Such a frequency change may be required for industrial utilisation.
➢ Converting sub-stations: Those sub-stations which change a.c. power into d.c. power are called converting
sub-stations.
➢ Industrial sub-stations: Those sub-stations which supply power to individual industrial concerns are
known as industrial sub-stations. 26
 Classification of sub-stations

According to constructional features:

➢ Indoor sub-stations: For voltages upto 11 kV, the equipment of the sub-station is installed indoor
because of economic considerations. However, when the atmosphere is contaminated with impurities,
these sub-stations can be erected for voltages upto 66 kV.

➢ Outdoor sub-stations: For voltages beyond 66 kV, equipment is invariably installed outdoor. It is
because for such voltages, the clearances between conductors and the space required for switches,
circuit breakers and other equipment becomes so great that it is not economical to install the
equipment indoor.

➢ Underground sub-stations: In thickly populated areas, the space available for equipment and building
is limited and the cost of land is high. Under such situations, the sub-station is created underground.

➢ Pole-mounted sub-stations: This is an outdoor sub-station with equipment installed overhead on H-

pole or 4-pole structure. It is the cheapest form of sub-station for voltages not exceeding 11kV (or 33 kV
in some cases). Electric power is almost distributed in localities through such substations.

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Comparison between outdoor and indoor sub-stations

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 Transformer sub-stations

Depending upon the purpose served,

transformer sub-stations may be
classified into :

➢ Step-up sub-station: The generation

voltage (11 kV ~ 25 kV) is stepped up to
high voltage (220 kV) to affect economy
in transmission of electric power. The
sub-stations which accomplish this job
are called step-up sub-stations. These
are generally located in the power
houses and are of outdoor type.

➢ Primary grid sub-station: From the step-up sub-station, electric

power at 220 kV is transmitted by 3-phase, 3-wire overhead
system to the outskirts of the city. Here, electric power is
received by the primary grid sub-station which reduces the
voltage level to 66 kV for secondary transmission. The primary
grid sub-station is generally of outdoor type.
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 Transformer sub-stations

➢ Secondary sub-station: From the primary grid sub-station, electric power is transmitted at 66 kV by 3-
phase, 3-wire system to various secondary sub-stations located at the strategic points in the city. At a
secondary sub-station, the voltage is further stepped down to 11 kV. The 11 kV lines run along the
important road sides of the city. It may be noted that big consumers (having demand more than 50 kW)
are generally supplied power at 11 kV for further handling with their own sub-stations. The secondary
sub-stations are also generally of outdoor type.

➢ Distribution sub-station: The electric power from 11 kV lines is delivered to distribution sub-stations.
These sub-stations are located near the consumers localities and step down the voltage to 400 V, 3-
phase, 4-wire for supplying to the consumers. The voltage between any two phases is 400V and
between any phase and neutral it is 230V. The single phase residential lighting load is connected
between any one phase and neutral whereas 3-phase, 400V motor load is connected across 3-phase
lines directly. It may be worthwhile to mention here that majority of the distribution substations are
of pole-mounted type.

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Q&A

THANKS TO ALL

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