How is the steam cycle heat rate of a combined cycle unit calculated?
A combined cycle plant is a highly fuel-efficient process that involves generating electricity in combustion turbines and utilizing the procedure’s hot exhaust (waste heat) to create water vapor, which is then used to generate additional electricity in a steam turbine. The heat rate is defined as a measure of energy efficiency that defines how much fuel it takes to generate a kilowatt-hour of electricity. The combined cycle plant involves the sequential use of the fuel energy in both the gas turbine-generator and the steam turbine-generator. The steam turbine operates in conjunction with the gas turbine, providing extra generation at an effective heat rate of zero to the station, ignoring any duct burners. Therefore, heat rates are defined for the gas turbines and for the combined cycle, but not the steam cycle alone. Using the GADS fuel and generation data and the performance reports from GADS NxL, you can determine the approximate overall heat rate of the combined cycle plant and an
