Browsing by Author "Kalinga, Meksesius John"

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    Assessment of the performance of gas power generation technologies in Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2017) Kalinga, Meksesius John
    Tanzania has recently discovered natural gas reserves especially in the southern part of the country and emphasis has been put on power generation to increase power generation mix and capacity. However, no comparative study has been done to ascertain the performance of gas technologies that have been adopted for the existing gas fired power plants. As such, the assessment of the performance of gas fired power generation technologies in Tanzania has been conducted to involve four gas fired power plants. This study analyses the power plant performance in terms of availability, reliability, productivity and the effect of gas supply availability using the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE:762 – 2006) standards. The study has revealed that, in Tanzania, gas power generation technologies have low plant availability patterns both yearly and periodically. Gas engines were found to have average availability levels ranging from 40 % to 70 % while turbines were between 91 % and 96 %. The average reliability of turbines ranged from 50 % to 80 % while that of engines ranges from 40 % to 70 %. Also, the study shows that, gas engines require low fuel pressure between 1.5 bars and 3.0 bars while gas turbines was high ranging from 28.5 bars to 48 bars. Moreover, the study has established that, the variations in gas supply have significant impact to the plant performance. These findings suggest that, both turbines and engines are needed in Tanzania for power generation as they have complementing advantages. Thus, it is recommended that, an optimal technology mix for natural gas power generation is to be established for sustainable and reliable power generation.