PowerChill®

With this system, the inlet air is typically cooled by mechanical refrigeration to the 45-55°F range. This type of system is most suitable when the cooling requirements are more than 6-8 hours a day. These systems often use electrically driven chillers, although absorption units can also be used if excess steam is available. These systems can be quickly brought on line. Usually the start-up time is similar to that for the turbine. Since mechanical refrigeration is used to provide cooling, the output in more consistent than with evap cooling.

All combustion turbines can increase their power output with PowerChill®. This system makes underachievers over-perform. Industrial refrigeration techniques can be effectively applied to poor, high ambient temperature conditions. Direct refrigeration of inlet air allows you to leverage auxiliary load into positive capacity addition.

As a PowerChill® system comes on-line, the megawatt meter starts to climb and this simple principle goes into action. 87MW in place of 75MW, 16% more power installed at less cost than new generation equipment. The energy used by the refrigeration and heat transfer system is substantially offset by the improvement in heat rate created by the system itself.

The newer more efficient turbines have higher firing temperatures and require less airflow per unit output as compared to older turbines. This low airflow to output ratio has made the application of inlet air chilling as a means of increasing turbine capacity more financially attractive.

The key to building the right system is to not over-design or under-design the refrigeration capacity. CEC uses real weather data to optimize every PowerChill® system. Advanced modeling techniques show an hour-by-hour preview of how your system will perform.

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