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Hi

I am doing some research into generator sets for a project a uni.

Take for example a set which produces 6.2MW of power.

How many units of electricity would this produce a day?

I am trying to identify whether it would be cost effective to run one instead of purchasing power from the grid.

A unit of power is roughly 10p, so I would like to compare.

If someone could show the calculation that would be great.

Thanks

Jon

The stanadard unit for electricity metering is kWhrs

So (6.2 x 1000) x 24

The multiply by 1000 is just to turn MegaWatts to KiloWatts and then multiply by 24 hours in a day.

Then if you want the cost obviously multiply by your 10pence

EDIT - one other point, most generators are actually rated in kVA or MVA (kiloVoltAmps or MegaVoltAmps), not kiloWatts or MegaWatts.
They are not quite the same - even though most people assume a Watt is Volts time Amps - because you have to take the power factor into account on an AC machine.
So make sure you have actually been quoted 6.2 MW and not 6.2 MVA

Edited by Rod S on 28th May, 2010.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

How much do you know about big gen sets like this? I have a little experience from working on their control systems off shore. The main thing you have to consider is that all the auxiliary systems, fuel pumps, oil pumps, cooling pumps, control system, etc will need an separate supply until the set is online. Also, and again this is only what I have experienced, is that generators are always specified for full load rating, but quite often they are not running anywhere near that so you have issues with them running at inefficient areas of their range and sometime having coking issues. This is particularly apparent when you only have one generator.

Not knowing anything about your requirements, it may be worth considering having 2 smaller sets.

In my opinion I doubt you will find the set is more efficient than grid power, once you have taken maintenance and fuel into consideration, but I will be interested in your results.

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