~PD~TE
could reduce operaring costs by $2.8 million
With rising and volatile natural gas
costs impacting the penonnanceand eco-
nomicsof whatwereoncelow-costgenerat-
ing facilities, many gasturbine ownersand
operatorsare more interestedin reducing
fuel costs than incre8$ingpower output of
existingassets.
One way to do it is throughhumid air
injection (HAl) technology- usednot just
as a way to augmentpoweroutput,but also
as a strategyto take advantageof improved
heatrate to reducefuel costs.
annually (figure). "The analysis,operaringin a
"Power augmentation methods have simple-{:ycleconfiguration,showsit is possible
long been used to enable gas turbine owners to genen:ltethe sameamount of power that the
to recover some of the power that is lost as gastmbine nonnally produces,but take advan-
ambient air temperatures rise," notes Rus- tage of the heat rate improvements to reduce
sell Blades, vice president of Hill Energy, a natural gas consumption by about 90
license holder that markets HAl technology. MMBtu/hr over the full operatingrangeof 25 F
"However, in today's market, many asset to95F:"
owners are more focused on reducing oper- Blades notes that in addition to being a
ating costs than producing more power." fuel savings strategy, users and power mar-
HAl is one technology that can help keters are looking at HAl as a physical
reduce operating costs by improving heat hedging strategy. While financial hedging
rates, thus reducing natural gas consump- strategies are well known within the power
tion. Because nat- industry, physical hedging strategies other
ural gas represents than gas storage are seldom deployed.
the largest single "A savvy power plant owner or power
cost of running a gas- marketer can take advantage of HAl's
fired power plant, an performance-based improvements," says
increase of 1% effi- Blades. "When power prices are high, HAl
ciency - improve- can be used to provide additional power at
ment in the fuel-to- incremental heat rates better than today's
power ratio - can best combined-cycle plants."
reduce operating Using HAl, a GE7EA could provide an
costs by $15-20 mil- additional 27 MW at an incremental heat
lion over the typical rate of only 5574 Btu/kWh when ambient air
life of a power plant. temperatures are 95 F: When power prices
Blades cites his are low, the same technology with simple
company's analysis changes in set points could continue to meet
on a baseloaded power output obligations, but reduce fuel by
GE7EA with gascon- 90 MMBtu/hr. That would result in what, in
tracts at $4IMMBtu effect, is excessnatural gas that could be sold
showing that HAl on the spot market for additional gains. ~