Power Generation Technologies Paul Breeze AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON NEW YORK OXFORD PARIS SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO ELSEVIER Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier Newnes
Contents List of figures List of tables 1 Introduction to electricity generation History of the electricity generation industry The evolution of electricity generation technologies The politics of electricity The size of the industry 2 The evolution of environmental awareness The environmental effects of power generation The hydrogen economy Externalities Life-cycle assessment The bottom line 3 Coal-fired power plants Types of coal Traditional coal-burning power plant technology Emission control for traditional coal-burning plants Advanced coal-burning power plant technology Environmental effects of coal combustion associated with coal-fired power generation The cost of coal-fired electricity generation 4 Gas turbines and combined cycle power plants Natural gas Gas turbine technology Advanced gas turbine design Distributed generation Combined cycle power plants Micro turbines Environmental impact of gas turbines associated with gas-turbine-based power projects The cost of gas turbine power stations ix xi 1 1 2 4 5 8 8 10 13 14 15 17 18 19 21 27 33 37 38 40 43 44 46 50 53 53 55 55 57 59
vi Contents 5 Combined heat and power History Applications CHP technology Energy efficiency Cost of CHP 62 63 64 65 71 72 73 73 6 Piston-engine-based power plants Piston engine technology Co-generation Combined cycle Costs 75 76 81 82 83 85 86 7 Fuel cells The fuel cell principle Fuel cell chemistry Types of fuel cell Phosphoric acid fuel cell Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell Molten carbonate fuel cells Solid oxide fuel cells Fuel cell costs 89 90 90 93 94 96 47 99 101 102 102 8 Hydropower The hydropower resource Hydro sites Dams and barrages Turbines Small hydropower The environment The cost of hydropower 104 105 106 107 109 113 114 117 119 9 Tidal power Tidal motion The tidal resource Tidal technology 122 122 123 124 129
Contents vii The cost of tidal power 10 Storage technologies Types of energy storage Pumped storage hydropower Compressed air energy storage Large-scale batteries Superconducting magnetic energy storage Flywheels Capacitors Hydrogen Costs 11 Wind power Wind sites Wind turbines Offshore wind technology Constraints on wind capacity The cost of wind power 12 Geothermal power The geothermal resource Geothermal energy conversion technology The cost of geothermal power 13 Solar power The solar energy resource Sites for solar power generation Solar technology Solar thermal power generation Photovoltaic devices Solar cell deployment The cost of solar power 14 Ocean power Ocean energy resource Ocean thermal energy conversion 130 131 134 135 136 139 143 146 147 148 149 149 151 153 155 156 163 164 164 166 167 170 171 175 179 180 181 184 184 185 186 186 192 196 198 199 200 204 204 206
viii Contents Wave energy 210 Ocean current generation 215 15 Biomass-based power generation 219 Types of biomass 220 Biomass energy conversion technology 224 229 231 The cost of biomass generated power 232 16 Power from waste 235 Landfill waste disposal 235 Waste sources 236 Waste composition 237 Waste collection 238 Waste power generation technologies 239 243 246 The cost of energy from waste 247 17 Nuclear power 249 Fundamentals of nuclear power 251 Nuclear reactors 254 Nuclear fusion 260 260 associated with investing in nuclear power 264 The cost of nuclear power 265 Index 267