1. THERMAL POWER GENERATION
NAME – MANISH KUMAR
USN – 4NM09EE031
Department of Electrical and Electronics
NMAMIT - Nitte

2. AGENDA
• Need for thermal power
• Introduction
• History
• Classification
• Efficiency
• Basic definitions
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Future prospects
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3. Need for thermal power………….
• Scarcity of water resources
• Coal is abundant
• Widely available alternate fuels
• Maintenance cost is lower
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4. Introduction
• Almost all coal, nuclear as well as many natural
gas power plants are thermal.
• Thermal power plants convert the energy in coal
to Electricity
• The energy available in the coal, is in the range of
10500 kJ/kg to 27000 kJ/kg.
• In thermal power stations, mechanical power is
produced by a heat engine that transforms thermal
energy, often from combustion of a fuel, into
rotational energy.
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5. HISTORY
• James Watt invented first steam engine.
• The very first commercial central electrical
generating stations in New York and London,
in 1882 also use steam engine.
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6. Classification
By fuel
• Nuclear power plants
• Solar thermal
• Fossil fuelled power plants
By prime mover
• Steam turbine
• Gas turbine
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7. Efficiency
• The electric efficiency of a conventional thermal
power station produced at the plant bus bars as a
percent of the heating value of the fuel consumed,
is typically 33% to 48% efficient.
• Efficiency of the plant is limited by the ratio of
the absolute temperatures of the steam at turbine
input and output
• Efficiency improvements require use of higher
temperature, and therefore higher pressure, steam
requried.
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8. Basic definitions
• Steam is vaporized water and can be produced
at 100’C at standard atmosphere.
• Steam most often refers to the visible
white mist that condenses above boiling water
as the hot vapor mixes with the cooler air.
• A turbine is a rotary engine that
extracts energy from a fluid or air flow and
converts it into useful work.
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9. Advantages
• The fuel used is quite cheap.
• Less initial cost as compared to other
generating plants.
• It can be installed at any place irrespective of
the existence of coal.
• It require less space as compared to Hydro
power plants.
• Cost of generation is less than that of diesel
power plants.
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10. Disadvantages
• It pollutes the atmosphere due to production of
large amount of smoke and fumes.
• It is costlier in running cost as compared to
hydro electric plants.
• A large number of circuits makes the design
complex
• It occupies more space
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11. Future Prospects
• Effective use of fossil fuels and reduction in
co2 emissions by improving the efficiency of
thermal power generation
• Accelerating the development of co2 capture
and storage technology the key to realizing
next-generation power generation system
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12. Technical References
• British Electricity International (1991).Modern
Power Station Practice: incorporating modern
power system practice (3rd Edition (12 volume
set) ed.). Pergamon.
• Babcock & Wilcox Co. (2005).Steam: Its
Generation and Use (41st edition ed.).
• Thomas C. Elliott, Kao Chen, Robert Swanekamp
(coauthors) (1997).Standard Handbook of Power
plant Engineering (2nd edition ed.). McGraw-Hill
Professional.
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13. Thermal Power Plant
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