FILE - 20201025 - 100720 - CHP-Steam Turbine
FILE - 20201025 - 100720 - CHP-Steam Turbine
FILE - 20201025 - 100720 - CHP-Steam Turbine
Steam Turbines
Steam turbines are a mature technology and have been
used since the 1880s for electricity production. Most of the
electricity generated in the United States is produced by
steam turbines integrated in central station power plants.
In addition to central station power, steam turbines are also
commonly used for combined heat and power (CHP) instal-
lations (see Table 1 for summary of CHP attributes).
Applications
Based on data from the CHP Installation Database,1 there are
699 sites in the United States that are using steam turbines for
CHP operation. These steam turbine CHP installations have an
average capacity of 37 MW and a combined capacity of 26 GW,
representing 32% of the installed CHP capacity in the United
Steam turbine CHP installation at an industrial facility in New York.
States.2 The majority of these CHP steam turbines are used at Photo courtesy of Recycled Energy Development
industrial plants (e.g., paper, chemicals, and food), commercial
buildings with high thermal loads
(e.g., hospitals), and district
heating sites (e.g., universities).
Steam turbines are well suited to
Table 1. Summary of Steam Turbine Attributes for CHP
medium- and large-scale indus- Size range Steam turbines are available in sizes from under 100 kW to over 250 MW.
trial and institional applications
where inexpensive fuels such as Thermal output CHP configurations use backpressure or extraction steam turbines to
coal, biomass, solid wastes and generate power and thermal energy. Backpressure steam turbines
byproducts (e.g., wood chips), produce low pressure steam while extraction turbines deliver both low
refinery residual oil, and refinery pressure and medium pressure steam.
off gases are available.
Part-load Steam turbines have relatively good part-load performance, but
operation efficiency does decline as power output is reduced.
Technology
Description Fuel Boilers are commonly used to generate steam required for steam
A steam turbine is driven with turbines, and boilers can utilize a wide range of fuels, including natural
high pressure steam produced by gas, oil, coal, and biomass. For CHP applications, steam turbines are
a boiler or heat recovery steam often implemented when there is access to a low cost opportunity fuel
generator (HRSG). Unlike gas that can be combusted in a boiler to generate steam.
turbines or microturbines, steam
turbines do not directly consume Reliability Steam turbines are a mature technology with excellent durability and
fuel. Rather, the fuel driving the reliability.
process is the fired boiler or plant
Other Steam turbines are typically designed to deliver relatively large
equipment that produces heat for
amounts of thermal energy with electricity generated as a byproduct
the HRSG (e.g., a gas turbine).
of heat generation. Overall CHP efficiencies can reach or exceed 80%.
1 U.S. DOE Combined Heat and Power Installation Database, data compiled through
December 31, 2015.
2 These statistics only include steam turbines integrated with boilers. The statistics do
not include steam turbines driven by steam produced from heat recovery steam genera-
tors used in combined cycle CHP systems.
Performance Characteristics
Table 2 shows performance characteristics for three representative
backpressure steam turbines used in CHP applications with electric
power capacities of 500 kW, 3 MW, and 15 MW. As indicated,
all three systems have overall efficiencies near 80%3 and power
to heat ratios of 0.1 or lower. High overall efficiencies and low
power to heat ratios are common characteristics for steam turbines
configured for CHP applications.
Table 3 shows capital costs and opera- Electric Efficiency (%, HHV) 6.3% 4.9% 7.3%
tion and maintenance (O&M) costs for
Thermal Efficiency (%, HHV) 73.3% 74.8% 72.4%
three representative backpressure steam
turbines. As indicated, installed costs Overall Efficiency (%, HHV) 79.6% 79.7% 79.7%
for the turbine/generator range from
approximately $670/kW to $1,140/kW, Note: Performance characteristics are average values and are not intended to represent
with costs on a per kW basis declining a specific product.
as capacity increases. The
turbine/generator costs in
Table 3 include the steam Table 3. Steam Turbine Capital and O&M Costs
turbine, generator, and System
generator control system. Description
The costs do not include 1 2 3
the boiler, steam loop, and
controls. Net Electric Power (kW) 500 3,000 15,000
Non-fuel O&M costs range Steam Turbine and Generator ($/kW) $668 $401 $392
from 0.6 to 1.0 ¢/kWh for the
Installation and Balance of Plant ($/kW, not $468 $281 $274
three steam turbines shown
including boiler and steam system)6
in Table 3. Similar to capital
costs, there are economies Total Installed Cost ($/kW) $1,136 $682 $666
of scale, and the O&M costs
decline on a per kWh basis O&M (¢/kWh, steam turbine and generator) 1.0 0.9 0.6
as the steam turbine capacity
increases. The O&M costs
shown in Table 3 are for
the steam turbine/generator subsystem and do not include O&M 4 Manufacturers often express fuel input and efficiency values based on the lower heat-
expenses for the boiler and steam loop. ing value (LHV) of the fuel. All quantities in this fact sheet are expressed based on
higher heating value (HHV) unless noted otherwise. For natural gas, the ratio of LHV
to HHV is approximately 0.9.
5 Power to heat ratio is the electric power output divided by the useful thermal output.
The quantities are expressed in equivalent units, and the ratio is unit-less.
6 Installation and BOP costs estimated at 70% of the turbine/generator capital cost.
4 ADVANCED MANUFACTURING OFFICE