Coal Plants of the Future

Coal is still needed fuel. Coal power plants keep its necessity from its large inertia. This will give an ample room for utilizing wind and solar plants in the electric power system. Therefore some new trends of coal plant design have to be considered.

According to the International Energy Agency’s IEA Clean Coal Center (CCC), coal power will need several critical attributes to compete in future markets include:

•  High overall plant efficiency,

•  Be small or modular.

•  Fast to build.

•  Produce near-zero emissions.

• Have enhanced operations and maintenance.

Encapsulating most of these attributes are new designs that incorporate novel cycles or combustion systems as follows:

•  Integrate coal gasification process.

•  Supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO ₂),

• Pressurized fluidized bed combustion,

• Electra-thermal energy storage.

In result, pairs the pressurized fluidized bed combustor and a supercritical steam cycle with Benefield CO₂ capture, promises to operate flexibly and accept a broad range of coal qualities, including waste coals.