ABSTRACT
With reforms in the electricity sector and as per the electricity act 2003, captive power generation is encouraged to meet enormous demand requirements resulting in an adverse effect on the environment including global warming and vacuum on fossil fuel availability as most of the generation is based on conventional fossil fuels, hence becoming a threat to the energy security. To obviate these problems, renewable energy generation has been encouraged. But the integration of renewable energy with conventional energy posed many challenges to the cogenerators especially on the efficiency and operating parameters of the process systems due to its variable nature. This paper specified the necessity of renewable energy integration with cogeneration plants. A case study of a typical cogeneration plant with double extraction cum condensing type turbines along with a back-pressure steam turbine is considered. Post effects on plant operation due to integration of renewable energy (solar) are studied and suitable optimization techniques are suggested to mitigate the inefficiencies created by practically conducting the experiments to obtain data at various solar generation levels and the break-even point is arrived at by cost-benefit analysis to optimize the plant operation. Experimental results are presented and options to explore and study further are suggested to yield better solutions to resolve the challenges being faced by cogenerators, hence helping in the growth of renewable energy utilization.
