Development and Evaluation of Sustainable Technologies for Flexible Operation of Conventional Power Plants.

国家电网上越来越多的可再生能源减少了电力产生的二氧化碳排放，但它们适合为化石燃料设计的电网。化石燃料可以随意开启和关闭，因此非常善于匹配负载的变化。风力涡轮机形式的可再生能源的变化性更大(尽管这种变化性比大多数人认为的要可预测得多)，现有发电厂需要更灵活地运行，以适应风能、潮汐能和太阳能发电量的变化。这项工作汇集了英国五所顶尖大学和一些工业合作伙伴，以使传统发电厂更加灵活。这项研究涵盖了广泛的活动，从详细分析发电站部件以确定它们将如何应对负荷的巨大变化，一直到在国家层面上对英国电网进行建模，向我们提供传统发电厂需要供应的负荷变化的信息。研究工作分为多个“工作包”，每个大学负责这些工作包，它们共同为提案中的四个主要主题做出贡献：维持发电厂的效率、提高发电厂的灵活性、增加燃料的灵活性和提供可持续性。剑桥大学将对湿蒸汽方法进行研究。水具有良好的换热性能，在火电厂中被用作工质。然而，在抽电式汽轮机的冷端，蒸汽开始凝结成水并形成水滴，这在部分负荷下尤其成问题。剑桥大学的这项工作将使这一过程得到更好的预测，并带来更好的设计。达勒姆大学将贡献两个不同的工作包：整个英国电力系统的建模工作和世界上第一个动态控制间隙密封的引入。建模工作将能够准确地确定对工厂灵活性的要求。与英国一家主要制造商合作开发的动态密封将使涡轮机在负荷变化时保持性能。牛津大学-改进的涡轮设计热传递方法。这项工作的输出将是高精度的流体流动和传热耦合计算，使设计人员能够更好地预测发电站内的热瞬变。利兹大学和爱丁堡大学将领导增加生物质燃料使用的工作。利兹的建模工作将使工厂操作员能够设计出适当的措施，将燃烧生物质对环境的影响降至最低。利兹和爱丁堡大学将为开发虚拟发电厂仿真工具做出贡献。这项工作在不同项目合作伙伴之间充当桥梁，因为来自达勒姆、剑桥、牛津和利兹的模型的输入被结合在一起。该工具基于最新的研究成果，可用于优化风力机输出变化时的暂态运行，如快速启动和负载跟随。

The increasing amounts of renewable energy present on the national grid reduce C02 emissions caused by electrical power but they fit into an electrical grid designed for fossil fuels. Fossil fuels can be turned on and off at will and so are very good at matching variations in load. Renewable energy in the form of wind turbines is more variable (although that variability is much more predictable than most people think) and there is a need for existing power plants to operate much more flexibly to accommodate the changing power output from wind, tidal and solar power. This work brings together five leading Universities in the UK and a number of industrial partners to make conventional power plants more flexible. The research covers a wide range of activities from detailed analysis of power station parts to determine how they will respond to large changes in load all the way up to modelling of the UK electrical network on a national level which informs us as to the load changes which conventional power plants will need to supply.The research work is divided up into a number of "workpackages" for which each University is responsible together they contribute to four major themes in the proposal: Maintaining Plant Efficiency, Improving Plant Flexibility, Increasing Fuel Flexibility and Delivering Sustainability. Cambridge University will be conducting research into wet steam methods. Water is used as the working fluid in power plant as it has excellent heat transfer properties. However in the cold end of power extraction turbine the steam starts to condense into water and droplets form this is especially a problem at part load. The work at Cambridge will allow this process to be predicted better and lead to better designs. Durham University will contribute two different work packages: modelling work of the entire UK power system and the introduction of the world's first dynamically controlled clearance seal. The modelling work will enable the requirements for plant flexibility to be determined accurately. The dynamic seal developed in conjunction with a major UK manufacturer will allow the turbine to maintain performance as the load varies.Oxford University - Improved Heat Transfer Methods for Turbine Design. The output from this work will be a highly accurate coupled fluid flow and heat transfer calculations that will enable designers to better predict the thermal transients inside power stations. Leeds and Edinburgh University will lead work on increasing the use of biomass fuels. The modelling work at Leeds will allow plant operators to devise suitable measures to minimise the environmental impact of burning biomass.Leeds and Edinburgh University will contribute the development of a Virtual Power Plant Simulation Tool This work acts as a bridge between the different project partners as inputs from the models produced at Durham, Cambridge, Oxford and Leeds are combined. This tool based on the latest research findings can be used to optimize transient operations such as fast start-up and load following as wind turbine output varies.