Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
water to maximum power during spin-dry mode. For technical and economic reasons,
power plants do not always operate at full capacity. At night, output is usually reduced
because demand is lower. Moreover, every facility needs to be switched off for routine
maintenance, or is liable to experience machine failures. Therefore, measured over the
course of a year, a power plant will have an output well below its capacity.
A highly efficient nuclear power plant operates at about 90 per cent of its capacity.
This percentage is referred as the 'capacity factor'. Nuclear power plants have the highest
capacity factor of all electricity generation facilities, while renewables, such as solar and
wind power, have the lowest. Of course, the capacity factor also depends on several other
factors, including the quality of the fuel, the reliability of the source, the technology, and
whether the plant was intended for base- or peak-load supply (see Table 4.1 ).
Table
4.1.
Capacity
factor
ranges
of
the
main
technologies
for
electricity
production
Source
Technology
Capacity factor (%)
Nuclear
Nuclear power plant
86-95
Coal
Coal-fired power plant
65-70
Hydropower Dam and runoff
30-60
Wind energy Onshore
20-40
Offshore
35-45
PV
Residential rooftop
10-20
Large-scale PV
15-27
CSP
CSP plant
25-75
Solar thermal Domestic and large-scale 4-13
Bioenergy
Solid biomass
70-80
Search WWH ::




Custom Search