IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v392y2025ics0306261925007068.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic simulation of a subcritical coal-fired power plant with the emphasis on flexibility

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Congyu
  • Chen, Fangfang
  • Xu, Pengjiang
  • Cao, Hongmei
  • Wang, Wei
  • Sun, Qie

Abstract

The increasing integration of intermittent renewable energy sources necessitates greater flexibility from coal-fired power plants. However, limited research has been conducted on the effect of thermal inertia on the ramp rates and the transient fuel consumption of subcritical power plants, when they are used as flexible power sources. Therefore, this study developed a system-level, high-fidelity dynamic model of a subcritical coal-fired power plant to fill the knowledge gap. The model's accuracy is validated against real-world plant data. The load-variation processes between 30 %PN and 100 %PN were simulated, where ramp rates and transient fuel consumption in different load ratio intervals were evaluated. Due to the effects of thermal inertia, the highest ramp rate that the subcritical power plant could provide is below 2 %PN/min. Unlike supercritical power plants, the power deviation in subcritical power plants is the critical limitation to ramp rates rather than the deviation in main or reheated steam temperature. Moreover, a large disparity in fuel consumption between the dynamic model and a steady-state model is observed. Compared to the steady-state model, the dynamic model predicts 4.92 % lower fuel consumption during the load-decrease process and 5.29 % higher fuel consumption during the load-increase process. In addition, the system's responses to automatic generation control (AGC) commands were investigated. The results demonstrate that the load-reciprocating stage exhibits the lowest comprehensive performance indicator Kp of 0.51, significantly lower than the load-increase (Kp = 1.78) and load-decrease (Kp = 1.62) stages, due to the effects of thermal inertia.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Congyu & Chen, Fangfang & Xu, Pengjiang & Cao, Hongmei & Wang, Wei & Sun, Qie, 2025. "Dynamic simulation of a subcritical coal-fired power plant with the emphasis on flexibility," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 392(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:392:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925007068
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125976
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925007068
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.125976?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:392:y:2025:i:c:s0306261925007068. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.