The Index of Thermal Power Plant Operation

04/15/24

Thermal Power Generation Safety Management

To reduce the accidents occurrence and to stabilize the system power supply and improve operational performance, thermal power plants adopt the following measures.

• Continue to implement the professional license system for maintenance and operation personnel to make the unit safe and reliable.
• The maintenance and operation of the unit's equipment are performed in accordance with the maintenance operation standards.
• Establish a preventive and maintenance PM system. The important equipment will master the operation quality of the equipment through regular maintenance, testing, replacement of components and checkpoint work.
• Establish an immediate maintenance CM system, the unit equipment operation is abnormal, immediately open the repair order, contact the maintenance department online maintenance.
• Set the unit overhaul schedule and the best maintenance schedule to ensure the unit operation quality.
• Establish a crew accident review mechanism, and if necessary, set up a group of experts to conduct research and diagnosis on special accidents to find out the cause of the accident.
• Implementing power plant safety management by walking around and checking mechanism to ensure the safety of personnel and equipment
• Natural gas power plant fuel leak detection system provides early warning measures for safe shutdown of the unit to ensure safe operation of the unit.
• Each power plant has an access control security system to ensure the environmental safety management of the power plant
• Each water and thermal power plant are equipped with a fire safety system, which implements fire monitoring and installation fire protection facilities for each plant and equipment in accordance with the design standards of national work safety regulations.

Important Indicators for the Operation of Thermal Power Units in Recent Years

The Consumption of Fossil Fuels

Taiwan's self-produced energy is lacking, it is almost purchased from abroad. The use of domestic energy economy, safety and stability must be considered. Therefore, Taipower has built different types of generator sets. For the purpose of thermal power generating units, the fuel used. There is coal, fuel oil, diesel, natural gas, and the consumption of fossil fuels for thermal power generation in the past five years is shown in the following table. In addition to increasing power generation and fuel consumption in line with the growth of power demand, the use of domestic environmental protection emission standards has become stricter and the use of natural gas has increased rapidly.

Gross Thermal Efficiency

In line with the government's stable power supply policy, the company assists the country's economic development and creates a high-quality investment environment in Taiwan. All thermal power plant units are operating conscientiously to reduce power generation costs and stabilize power supply, giving priority to low-cost Taipower coal-fired base units. Supplying the power required by the system, and then supplying the fuel to the mid-point unit of the fuel and gas with higher cost. The medium-tipped unit also provides the variable load with the change of the demand for electricity. At the same time, it is committed to improving the efficiency of the unit and gradually transforming it into high efficiency. New unit or equipment improvement, 46.6% in 2023, the best situation in history.

The Ratio of Station Service

The ratio of station service (%) in the plant is the ratio of the auxiliary equipment used in the power generation production process. As the company gradually replaces the old or rebuilds the new unit or improves the power saving of the equipment, the power consumption rate of the whole fire unit has been decreasing year by year. In 2017, it was 3.55%, the lowest in the past years. The coal-fired unit is equipped with air pollution reduction and combined-cycle units to be affected by environmental protection. In 2023, the power consumption rate in the plant increased slightly to 3.67%.

The Capacity Factor

The capacity factor (%) is the ratio of the actual annual power generation to the ideal maximum power generation. Since all types of units are required to carry out necessary repairs, safety maintenance, cleaning work, equipment troubleshooting, etc., and with peak or off-peak power consumption. The change of high and low, the mid-point loader takes time and high load and low-load power generation, and even needs to cooperate with the dispatch stop, so the annual capacity factor is about 60%; due to the increase of system power, the standby generator set is too small. The capacity factor has increased year by year, reaching 74.5% in 2017. Coal-fired units are equipped with air pollution reduction and combined-cycle units to be environmentally limited, and the capacity factor is reduced to 64.2% in 2023.

The Availability Rate

Since all types of units need to carry out necessary repairs, safety maintenance, cleaning work, equipment troubleshooting, etc., the unit needs to reduce the load or stop the power supply. After deducting the above-mentioned affected power generation, the remaining power generation accounts for the maximum power generation. The ratio is the availability rate (%); due to the improved operation and operation of the unit and the good maintenance of the equipment, the availability of full-fire units has increased to about 90% in recent years, and the availability rate in 2017 is 90.7%, which is the second highest in history.  In 2023, the construction period of the environmental improvement project and the combined-cycle units overhaul of the first and second machine will be increased, and the availability rate is 88.2%.

Important Indicators for the Operation of Thermal Power Units in 2023

Under the premise of ensuring the availability of the unit and the overhaul and failure of the inorganic group, the company is in accordance with the principle of "economic dispatch" to sequentially schedule the low-cost power generation of Taipower (the power generation cost in 2023 is 3.43 yuan/kWh) and IPP coal-fired base units. In order to meet the power demand, it is necessary to dispatch a slightly higher cost Taipower gas cycle unit (2023 power generation cost of 3.38 yuan / kWh) and IPP gas units, which can meet the general load demand. If it is necessary to supplement the peak power supply, the required power must be achieved by dispatching more expensive Taipower steam oil (2023 power generation cost of 6.77 yuan / kWh) and steam gas (2023 power generation cost of 5.21 yuan / kWh) and light oil Unit replacement to reduce overall power costs.