Optimization of the Start-up Procedure of a Combined Cycle Power Plant

The growing diffusion of Combined Cycle Power Plants (CCPPs), together with the increasing energy demand and grid regulation difficulties due to the energy market liberalization, require the participation of Combined Cycles to the load modulation and thus an increase in the frequency of the start-up and shut-down. The aim of this work is to carry out the optimization of the start-up of the Combined Cycles using a model-based approach. The comparison between a standard start-up procedure applied to a real plant in Italy and some simulation experiments show the potential advantages of this approach.