Abstracts - VGB PowerTech Journal 1-2/2018
Editorial: Signpost into the future
Normen Kegler
The energy industry is changing rapidly. Nuclear phase-out, climate protection, distributed generation, e-mobility and digitalisation – to mention a few – are among numerous factors accelerating the change. Now it is time for companies in the energy business to find a route into a successful future. This means for a lot of companies leaving the proven paths and breaking new ground to develop and market novel solutions, because some traditional technologies and business models will soon reach their limits.[more...]
The right solution for Turkey’s energy future
Bob Giglio and Boguslaw Krzton
Turkey’s GDP is predicted to grow nearly 24% over the next 5 years, ranking as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This high level of economic growth coupled to Turkey’s strongly growing industrial base is expected to drive electricity demand growth from 290 TWh (based on 2017)to 368 TWh in year 2022. To keep up with this insatiable need for power, Turkey’s energy imports are expected to grow considerably, causing both an energy security and economic burden concern with government leaders. Turkey has 17.2 billion tonnes of proven lignite reserves, enough to power its growing economy well into the future. Tapping into Turkey’s massive lignite reserves is a key part of Turkey’s Vision 2023 energy plan, timed to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic.
OASE® blue – Optimized CO2 capture technology as a result of the 10-year development program of BASF, Linde and RWE Power at the Coal Innovation Center in Niederaußem, Germany
Peter Moser, Georg Wiechers, Sandra Schmidt, Knut Stahl, Gerald Vorberg and Torsten Stoffregen
OASE® blue – Optimised CO2 capture technology as a result of the 10-year development program of BASF, Linde and RWE Power at the Coal Innovation Center in Niederaußem. After completion of the 10-years joint development program of BASF, Linde and RWE Power on the optimisation of the CO2 capture technology and its testing under real operating conditions of a power plant at the Coal Innovation Center at Niederaussem the OASE® blue post-combustion capture technology is ready for large-scale application, with a 30 % lower specific energy demand and a 75 % lower solvent consumption (< 0.3 kg/tCO2) compared to the existing benchmark technology based on monoethanolamine (MEA). An outstanding total testing time of more than 55,000 hours and an availability of the post-combustion capture pilot plant of 97 % underlines the reliability of the technique. So far, no other new-generation capture technology has been tested so long and intensively under real operating conditions. The developed technology limits the efficiency loss of a lignite fired power plant that applies CO2 capture to below 10 %-points and to reduce the CO2-capture costs below 30 €/t CO2.
The implementation of the 42nd BImSchV from the operator’s point of view
Sebastian Hahn
Our natural environment contains many water- and airborne microorganisms. They are detectable in many evaporation coolers. Their presence cannot be equated with a hazard. Special attention is paid to legionellae. Evaporative cooling systems can provide favourable living conditions for legionellae. It is therefore an important goal to design and operate evaporation coolers in such a way that the reproduction and concentration of health-relevant microorganisms is limited. It is particularly important for operators to know the microbiological condition of these systems in order to be able to take appropriate countermeasures if necessary. The new Federal Immission Control Ordinance on Evaporation Cooling Systems, Cooling Towers and Wet Separators (42nd BImSchV) obliges operators to ensure hygienically flawless operation of the systems.
IT security catalogue according to § 11 paragraph 1b EnWG – What needs to be done now!
Stefan Loubichi
With the draft of the IT-security catalogue in January 2018 the last chapter in implementing and certifying for companies in the energy industry has begun. The operator of energy plants has to demonstrate successful certification within 18 months after the IT standard had been put into force. Protec-tion goals, risk objectives and risk handling are just as important to this IT security standard as protection zones are. All facts lead to the estimation that the implementation of the IT catalog will be a major but manageable challenge.
Compressed air energy storage combined cycle – Highly efficient interim and permanent solution
Lasse Nielsen and Reinhard Leithner
The integration of renewable energy especially photovoltaic and wind into the electric grid and the available industrial electricity storage plants like pumped hydro and CAES Compressed Air Energy Storage plants are in brief discussed. Subsequently the general basics of CAES plants are presented. Based on a catalogue of requirements in a highly efficient transitional and with additional components permanent solution of industrial electricity storage a CAES – Combined Cycle Plant is identified being the optimal solution. In the case of an empty CAES such plants can be operated as highly efficient gas fired Combined Cycle Plants. On the long term such plants can be equipped with electrolyzers producing hydrogen and oxygen out of water with excess electricity. Hydrogen can be stored in special tanks or caverns or mixed into the natural gas grid using the storage caverns of that grid.
Determination of the quality and quantity of steam and condensate flows to optimise water recovery in a gas turbine process with steam injection
Hanna Rosentreter, Astrid Weigert, André Lerch, Thorsten Lutsch and Uwe Gampe
Gas turbine processes with integrated steam injection hold the potential of flexible cogeneration. The disadvantage of this process is the high water consumption caused by steam injection associated with increased costs for water treatment. These costs are reduced by recovering the injected steam by a condensation process in order to reuse condensate as feed water. In order to optimize the water recovery and process water treatment, the influ-ence of different operating parameters on the quality and quantity of the recondensation was investigated at a test facility at the Centre for Energy Technology at the Technische Universität Dresden.
Laser-Multi-Pass-Narrow-Gap Welding – A new technology for joining thick-walled components of power stations
B. Kessler, B. Brenner, D. Dittrich, G. Maier, H. Oesterlin and B. Bendjus
New generations of highly efficient thermal power stations need increased turbine inlet temperatures of at least 700°C. Nickel-based superalloys such as Alloy 617 occ are the material of choice to meet these strong requirements concerning creep, fatigue and corrosion resistance. Due to their poor forgeability and difficult machinability as well as increased material costs compared to steel (5-10 times higher), effective welding technologies are a precondition for the economic production of Ni-based power station components. A radical new welding technology is required to overcome the disad-vantages of conventional welding technologies in terms of economic efficiency, technological aspects and properties.
Use of torque-limiting couplings for the design of shaft trains of power generators for “Energiewende” specific grid requirements
Andreas Mehlich, Oliver Drubel and Axel Bohler
The electrical energy market is actually in an extensive transformation process. The technological change from a centralized structure to a decentralized one implies much more challenges than expected. Actual European directives try to support the grid stability also in future with a special focus on wind energy and photovoltaic supply. Main focus is the reactive- and active power supply and voltage stability, secondary effects are actually not avoided. In addition to the aforementioned thematic, further changes are already apparent as indicated by the significant rise in the number of capacitive components in power grids. The reduction of the natural energy grid frequency increases the risk of sub-synchronous resonances step by step. Designs of newly installed plants as well as of refurbished ones shall consider in its key components the European directive requirements as well as the technological change of the grid. Of particular importance is the shaft-train of the plant. The interface between the power plant generator and the turbine set may be exposed to much higher torque levels than in the past. Various coupling variants are being compared within this paper in terms of the shaft-train design-process as well as with regard to their ruggedness in tackling future grid requirements partially yet unknown. The comparison uses the system comprised by the power supply grid, the generator, the voltage regulator, the turbine regulator and the shaft-train as a physical basis.
The reform of the German “Energiewende”: An important task for a new Federal Government
Dietrich Böcker
The German energy revolution is at a dead end. The CO2 reduction targets set for 2020 will not be achieved. The cost-benefit ratio is disproportionately poor. Germany has taken on too much in too short a time. There is an urgent need to reform the “Energiewende” in the current nineteenth legislative period of the Bundestag, to rebalance desire and reality and to eliminate discernible weaknesses. An imprudent, quick shutdown of fossil power plants would increase the existing weaknesses. Without a clear designation and removal of the fundamental shortcomings, the German “Energiewende” will continue to slip into a dead end. Reason, cost containment – also for social reasons – and political realism are in demand.