Dynamic Modeling and Heat Flow Study of a Thermal Power Plant Using OpenModelica

Abstract

With the integration of intermittent energy sources in the power system, the main focus of thermal power plant design is to optimize the conventional system by improving efficiency and flexibility of power generation in the start-up and base-load procedures. This paper focuses on the behavior of thermal power generation with respect to load variations, fuel variations, weather conditions and internal dynamics of the system to aid in energy planning and the optimization of power system. Dynamic modeling and subsequent simulation is to make improvements. Therefore, to model the system, this research study has used a dynamic modeling and a simulation framework (OpenModelica based on modelica language) which is an object-oriented and equation-based language. This framework allows a non-causal modeling and a flexible reuse of the models since data-flow direction is not predefined like other state of the art simulating tools i.e. MATLAB. The proposed model analyses the trend of electrical power generation of KOT ADDU thermal power plant to predict the future demand of electrical power. The achieved results show more than 90% accuracy of the proposed model in the transient operation such as start-up and base load procedure.