Economic Evaluation of a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant Integrated with an Absorption Chiller

Economic Evaluation of a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant Integrated with an Absorption Chiller

MB Bughazem1, Imhamed M. Saleh2, Khalifa Khalifa3

1,2,3 Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Sirte University

Sirte, Libya

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Abstract - This research shows the study of an economic evaluation and to investigate the economic acceptability and profitability of a combined cycle gas turbine power plant integrated with an absorption chiller, where the waste heat is used to power an absorption chiller to produce cooling for inlet air entering the compressor of a gas turbine on high ambient temperature days. Combined cycle gas turbine power plant attains a maximum power of 51.6 MW and efficiency of 52.8% when operated at ambient temperature of 47 °C with pre-cooling temperature of 10 °C applied to the compressor intake air.

The study further assesses the economic viability of the integrated power plant by analyzing its payback period (PBP), internal rate of return (IRR), profitability index (PI), and net present value (NPV). A Microsoft Excel model has been developed to compute the total capital investment cost, annual cash inflow, and annual cash outflow, facilitating the evaluation of the four criteria.

The findings indicate that the power plant is economically viable and profitable, with a payback period not exceeding 4.5 years, a profitability index of up to 1.60, an internal rate of return of 20.13%, and a net present value of approximately 39 million pounds.

Key Words:  Thermal design; ESDU; Economic evaluation; Li-Br absorption chiller; Combined cycle power plant; IPSEpro software