energies Article Using Heat Pumps to Improve the Efficiency of Combined-Cycle Gas Turbines Vitaly Sergeev, Irina Anikina and Konstantin Kalmykov * Higher School of Nuclear and Heat Power Engineering, Institute of Energy, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, 195251 St. Petersburg, Russia;
[email protected] (V.S.);
[email protected] (I.A.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: This paper studies the integration of heat pump units (HPUs) to enhance the thermal efficiency of a combined heat and power plant (CHPP). Different solutions of integrate the HPUs in a combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, the CCGT-450, are analyzed based on simulations developed on “United Cycle” computer-aided design (CAD) system. The HPUs are used to explore low-potential heat sources (LPHSs) and heat make-up and return network water. The use of HPUs to regulate the gas turbine (GT) intake air temperature during the summer operation and the possibility of using a HPU to heat the GT intake air and replace anti-icing system (AIS), over the winter at high humidity conditions were also analyzed. The best solution was obtained for the winter operation mode replacing the AIS by a HPU. The simulation results indicated that this scheme can reduce the underproduction of electricity generation by the CCGT unit up to 14.87% and enhance the overall efficiency from 40.00% to 44.82%. Using a HPU with a 5.04 MW capacity can save $309,640 per each MW per quarter. Keywords: heat pump unit; energy efficiency; vapor compression; thermal power plant; low-potential heat source; CCGT-CHPP Citation: Sergeev, V.; Anikina, I.; Kalmykov, K.