Heat Rate Prediction of Combined Cycle Power Plant Using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Method

Heat rate of a combined cycle power plant (CCPP) is a parameter that is typically used to assess how efficient a power plant is. In this paper, the CCPP heat rate was predicted using an artificial neural network (ANN) method to support maintenance people in monitoring the efficiency of the CCPP. The ANN method used fuel gas heat input (P1), CO(2) percentage (P2), and power output (P3) as input parameters. Approximately 4322 actual operation data are generated from the digital control system (DCS) in a year. These data were used for ANN training and prediction. Seven parameter variations were developed to find the best parameter variation to predict heat rate. The model with one input parameter predicted heat rate with regression R(2) values of 0.925, 0.005, and 0.995 for P1, P2, and P3. Combining two parameters as inputs increased accuracy with regression R(2) values of 0.970, 0.994, and 0.984 for P1 + P2, P1 + P3, and P2 + P3, respectively. The ANN model that utilized three parameters as input data had the best prediction heat rate data with a regression R(2) value of 0.995.