Question

Explore the design and construction of thermal plants around the globe.

Answer 1

These are top four thermal plants across the world. Image is not available.

Taichung Power Plant, Taiwan

Taichung power plant in Longjing, Taichung, Taiwan, is the world's biggest thermal power station. It is a coal fired power station with an installed capacity of 5,788MW owned and is operated by the state-owned Taiwan Power Company (Taipower).

The plant, consisting of 10 550MW coal-fired steam turbines and four 72MW gas turbines, began operations in 1992 with the commissioning of four 550MW units.

Four more units were installed between 1996 and 1997. Two additional 550MW units were commissioned in 2005-2006 and four 72MW gas turbines have also been added.

The coal-fired steam turbines were supplied by GE and Toshiba, and 70% of the coal used by the plant is sourced from Australia, United States, South Africa and Indonesia under long-term contracts, while the remaining is bought in the spot market.

Taipower plans to commission two additional 800MW coal-based generating units at the Taichung power plant by 2021.

Shoaiba Power Plant, Saudi Arabia

Shoaiba oil-fired power facility located on the Red Sea coast, around 100km south of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, is currently the second biggest thermal power plant in the world. The 5,600MW power station is also the biggest in the Middle East.

The Shoaiba power facility is owned and operated by Saudi Electricity Company (SEC). The power station has 14 generating units of 400MW capacity each and was developed in three phases. Construction began in 1998 and the first phase with three generating units was commissioned in 2003. The second and third phases were completed in 2007 and 2012 respectively.

A consortium led by ABB executed phase one, and an Alstom-led consortium executed the next two phases on a turnkey basis. The oil for the power plant is supplied by state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, while water required for the operations is supplied from a nearby water desalination facility.

Surgut-2 Power Station, Russia

Surgut-2 power plant, also known as the Surgutskaya GRES-2, in West-Sibiria, Russia, ranks as the third biggest thermal power plant in the world. The gas-fired power plant has an installed capacity of 5,597.1MW and is owned and operated by the Russian power generation company E.ON Russia.

Surgut-2 consists of six 800MW units commissioned between 1985 and 1988, and two advanced gas-fired combined cycle units with a combined capacity of 797.1MW commissioned in July 2011.

The latest units added to the power station are based on GE 9FA gas turbines and have an efficiency rate of 55.9%. Associated petroleum gas (70%) and natural gas (30%) are used as fuels for the power generation.

The power station generated approximately 40 billion kWh of electricity in 2012. E.ON Russia contracted Emerson Process Management for implementing automated process control system at the third generating unit of the plant in September 2011.

Tuoketuo Power Station, China

China's biggest coal-fired power station Tuoketuo is also the world's fourth biggest thermal power plant, with a massive gross installed capacity of 5,400MW. The plant is located in Togtoh County, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, and is owned and operated by Tuoketuo Power Company, a joint venture of Datang Power (60%), Beijing Power (25%) and Huaneng Thermal Power (15%).

Tuoketuo power station consists of eight 600MW generating units commissioned between 2003 and 2006, and two additional 300MW units. Coal for the plant is supplied from the Junggar Coalfield located 50km away, while water is supplied from the Yellow River 12km away.

Tuoketuo Power Company plans to expand the Tuoketup power station's installed capacity up to 6,000MW, to make it the biggest thermal power plant in the world.