Capacity Control of Power Stations by O2/H2-Rocket Combustor Technology.

Abstract

As interconnected electrical networks do not have available any significant storage capacity of their own, suitable measures must be taken to match continuously power generation output to electricity consumption. For a modern interconnected network, the suitable requirements have been specified for the operators of power plants. Typically, each power plant unit must pocess a control reserve of at least 5 % of its design capacity which should be activated within a few seconds. The German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) proposes, as an alternative to conventional control methods, the spontaneous generation of additional steam from hydrogen and oxygen. For this, inthe so-called hydrogen/oxygen steam generator, the two gases are converted to steam, the temperature of which is reduced by injecting preheated feedwater to exactly that level corresponding to the steeamcondition at the point of injection into the power plant process.By injecting this additional steam for instance in the IP turbine, it is possible to raise the output of the steam turbine power plant within just a few seconds. The economic advantage of this process is that the capital costs of such a plant are extremely low. The paper describes the concept of a H2/O2-Spinning reserve system, the status of the development project "HYDROSS" which has been jointly conducted by DLR and German power industries as well as German electric utilities and the perspectives for future applications.