Jmdonev at 21:11, 24 February 2019

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	[[File:Surgut.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|Figure 1. The Surgut-2 power plant in Russia is the largest natural gas power plant in the world.<ref>Wikimedia Commons [Online], Available: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Surgut_%28060%29.jpg</ref>]]		[[File:Surgut.jpg\|300px\|thumb\|Figure 1. The Surgut-2 power plant in Russia is the largest natural gas power plant in the world.<ref>Wikimedia Commons [Online], Available: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Surgut_%28060%29.jpg</ref> (as of 2019)]]

	<onlyinclude>'''Natural gas power plants''' [[generate electricity]] by burning [[natural gas]] as their [[fuel]]. There are many types of natural gas power plants which all generate electricity, but serve different purposes.</onlyinclude> All natural gas plants use a [[gas turbine]]; natural gas is added, along with a stream of air, which [[combustion\|combusts]] and expands through this turbine causing a [[generator]] to spin a magnet, making [[electricity]]. There is [[waste heat]] that comes from this process, because of the [[second law of thermodynamics]]. Some natural gas plants use this waste heat as well, which is explained below.		<onlyinclude>'''Natural gas power plants''' [[generate electricity]] by burning [[natural gas]] as their [[fuel]]. There are many types of natural gas power plants which all generate electricity, but serve different purposes.</onlyinclude> All natural gas plants use a [[gas turbine]]; natural gas is added, along with a stream of air, which [[combustion\|combusts]] and expands through this turbine causing a [[generator]] to spin a magnet, making [[electricity]]. There is [[waste heat]] that comes from this process, because of the [[second law of thermodynamics]]. Some natural gas plants use this waste heat as well, which is explained below.

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J.williams at 16:57, 12 August 2015

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[[Category:Done 2015-07-24]]
[[category:371 topics]]
[[File:Surgut.jpg|300px|thumb|Figure 1. The Surgut-2 power plant in Russia is the largest natural gas power plant in the world.<ref>Wikimedia Commons [Online], Available: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Surgut_%28060%29.jpg</ref>]]

<onlyinclude>'''Natural gas power plants''' are a type of [[power plant]] that use [[natural gas]] as their [[fuel]] in order to [[generate electricity]].</onlyinclude> This process is done using a large [[gas turbine]], where the natural gas is input along with a stream of air which is [[combustion|combusted]], and then expands through a turbine causing a [[generator]] to spin.

Natural gas power plants have many benefits compared to the other [[primary energy]] sources used for generating electricity. They have a lower total cost and are the most efficient of the [[baseload power]] providers, and the burning of natural gas is incredibly clean compared to [[coal]] and [[oil]].<ref>Encana. (June 12 2015). ''Power generation: Costs'' [Online]. Available: https://www.encana.com/pdf/natural-gas/power-generation-costs.pdf</ref> Along with reduced [[emissions]] natural gas plants are also able to [[dispatchable source of electricity|dispatch]] quicker than [[coal-fired power plant]]s, meaning they can be flipped on or off faster in order to meet societies electricity needs.<ref>Encana. (June 12 2015). ''Power generation: Emissions'' [Online], Available: https://www.encana.com/pdf/natural-gas/power-generation-emissions.pdf</ref>

The use of natural gas accounts for around 23% of the world's electricity generation (see the [[Natural gas power plant#World Electricity Generation: Natural Gas|data visualization below]]). This is second only to [[coal]], which is the dominant energy source in countries like China and India.

==Types==
There are two types of natural gas power plants: '''[[Simple cycle gas plant]]s''' and '''[[combined cycle gas plant]]s'''. The former consists of a gas turbine connected to a generator, and the latter consists of a simple cycle plant in combination with another [[external combustion engine]] operating on the [[Rankine cycle]], hence its name "combined cycle".

The simple cycle is fairly straight forward yet less [[efficiency|efficient]] than the combined cycle, and is only used for meeting the fluctuating [[electricity]] needs of society, known as [[peaking power]]. Combined cycle plants make up for the efficiency of simple cycle plants, because it makes use of the hot exhaust gases that are created that would otherwise be dispelled from the system. These exhaust gases are used to [[boiling point|boil]] [[water]] into [[steam]], which can then spin another turbine and generate more electricity. The [[thermal efficiency]] of the combined cycle can get up to 60%.<ref>NaturalGas.org. (June 12 2015). ''Electrical Uses'' [Online]. Available: http://naturalgas.org/overview/uses-electrical/</ref> These plants produce one third of the [[waste heat]] of a plant with a 33% efficiency (like a typical nuclear plant or an older coal power plant), see the [[thermal efficiency]] page for more information on this.

The cost of combined cycle plants are generally higher, since they cost more to build and run. The EIA estimated that for a simple cycle plant the cost is about US$389/[[watt|kW]], whereas combined cycle plants are US$500 – 550/kW.<ref>Paul Breeze. (2005) ''Power Generation Technologies'' [Online Book], Available: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=D9qSDgTbRZoC&pg=PA59&dq=%22Simple+cycle+combustion+turbine%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8A4sUYaND4vA9QSSqIDIDw#v=onepage&q=%22Simple%20cycle%20combustion%20turbine%22&f=false</ref>

==Operation==

Natural gas turbines are theoretically simple, and have three main parts as seen in Figure 2:<ref name=hsw>Brain, Marshall. "How Gas Turbine Engines Work" 01 April 2000. HowStuffWorks.com. [Online], Available: <http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/turbine.htm> 28 May 2015.</ref>

#'''Compressor'''- Takes in air from outside of the turbine and increases its pressure.
#'''Combustor'''- [[Combustion|Burns the fuel]] and produces high pressure and high [[velocity]] gas.
#'''Turbine'''- Extracts the energy from the gas coming from the combustor.

[[File:natgasturb.png|thumb|800px|center|Figure 2. A diagram of a gas turbine engine.<ref>Wikimedia Commons [Online], Available: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Jet_engine.svg</ref>]]

===Combined cycle===
The simple cycle stops here, however the combined cycle extends beyond this to use more of the energy created in the combustion. The exhaust gases are made to flow towards the next unit, called the '''heat recovery steam generator''' (HRSG).<ref name=wart>Wartsila, ''Combined Cycle Plant for Power Generation: Introduction'' [Online], Available: http://www.wartsila.com/power-plants/learning-center/technical-comparisons/combined-cycle-plant-for-power-generation-introduction</ref> The HRSG is essentially a [[heat exchanger]], in which the hot gases [[boiling point|boil]] pre-heated water into steam. The steam then expands through a turbine, generating electricity. Once the steam has passed through, it condenses and is recycled through.

==World Electricity Generation: Natural Gas==

The map below shows which primary energy different countries get the energy to generate their electricity from. Natural gas is seen in red. Click on the region to zoom into a group of countries, then click on the country to see where its electricity comes from. Notable countries include the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

<html><iframe class='charts-iframe' id='world-energy'></iframe></html>

==References==
{{reflist}}
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Natural gas power plant - Revision history

Jmdonev at 21:11, 24 February 2019

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Jmdonev at 00:59, 21 July 2018

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J.williams at 16:57, 12 August 2015