Our lives and the functioning of modern societies are intimately intertwined with electricity consumption. We owe our quality of life to electricity. However, the electricity generation industry is partly responsible for some of the most pressing challenges we currently face, including climate change and the pollution of natural environments, energy inequality, and energy insecurity. Maintaining our standard of living while addressing these problems is the ultimate challenge for the future of humanity. The objective of this book is to equip engineering and science students and professionals to tackle this task. Written by an expert with over 25 years of combined academic and industrial experience in the field, this comprehensive textbook covers both fossil fuels and renewable power generation technologies. For each topic, fundamental principles, historical backgrounds, and state-of-the-art technologies are covered.
Conventional power production technologies, steam power plants, gas turbines, and combined cycle power plants are presented. For steam power plants, the historical background, thermodynamic principles, steam generators, combustion systems, emission reduction technologies, steam turbines, condensate-feedwater systems, and cooling systems are covered in separate chapters. Similarly, the historical background and thermodynamic principles of gas turbines, along with comprehensive discussions on compressors, combustors, and turbines, are presented and then followed with combined cycle power plants.
The second half of the book deals with renewable energy sources, including solar photovoltaic systems, solar thermal power plants, wind turbines, ocean energy systems, and geothermal power plants. For each energy source, the available energy and its variations, historical background, operational principles, basic calculations, current and future technologies, and environmental impacts are presented. Finally, energy storage systems as required technologies to address the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources are covered.
While the book has been written with the needs of undergraduate and graduate college students in mind, professionals interested in widening their understanding of the field can also benefit from it.