An Evaluation of Thermal Storage Options for Combustion Turbine Inlet Air Cooling

A transient simulation model was written to describe the performance of combustion turbine inlet air cooling systems based on a combination of chilled water and ice as thermal storage media. The transient simulation model was used in conjunction with simpler computer models to design inlet air cooling systems for four different power plant daily load profiles based on three alternative storage options: chilled water alone, ice alone, and an optimized combination of the two media. Alternative storage options were evaluated on the bases of first cost and a life cycle analysis of each system. Both the capacity enhancement cost and the incremental electrical energy production cost were found to be lowest for cooling systems based on chilled water storage alone. Systems based either partially or entirely on ice storage lead to greater power plant generating capacity increases than do systems based on chilled water alone. Systems based on the optimized combination of thermal storage media are significantly less expensive than are systems based purely on ice storage.