Abstract:
Every power plant has its own cost function that describes how its cost varies with the power output. This data is used to find the incremental cost of each unit generated – hence the order in which the plant is dispatched in the merit list prepared by System Control Centre (SCC) of Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). Lakvijaya Power Station (LVPS) is in operation for more than six years now, but its cost function has not been defined yet. Main target of this research is to define the cost function of LVPS and to determine the independent parameters affecting the function.
There are many parameters that affect the efficiency of the power plant. One is the temperature of inlet air which is used to convey pulverized coal to the furnace and to supply air required for combustion. Another key parameter is the cooling water temperature which is used as the coolant of the condenser. Next one is excess oxygen content in flue gas. Furthermore, mill temperature, power output, main steam pressure and main steam temperature were considered.
By using load levels, cost data and quadratic regression, the cost function was derived. Then the most influencing factors were identified using Pearson correlation analysis. As the second step, it was studied how the selected parameters affect the cost function. Multiple regression was used for those calculations. SPSS package was the selected tool for this analysis.
Validation for the final output was done for many cases and that proved realistic behavior of the derived function. This relationship can be used to identify the parameters affecting the efficiency and to which extent it influences the cost function. This function is recommended to be used for decision making and for the efficiency calculation of Lakvijaya Power Station
