Stephen,


Seems like a fair summary to me, but then I'm not a power engineer.


Back in my student days I visited Ratcliffe-on-Soar, one of those Trent valley power stations that I think you have in mind. It had four 500 MW steam turbines and four 17.5 MW gas turbines for 'peak clipping'. It had eight cooling towers which dominated the site, despite the flue stack being taller, (but a lot smaller in diameter). Such a power station has more than sixteen times the output than somewhere like Musandam but perhaps a thermal efficiency of 40% against 60%. That would imply that R-o-S has to dump 3,000 MW of waste heat (up the flue and via the cooling towers) and Musandam only 80 MW, which given the absence of a nearby cold river and the high ambient air temperatures might be no mean feat. [Note, these are my estimates, If anyone knows better feel free to comment.]

Stephen,


Seems like a fair summary to me, but then I'm not a power engineer.


Back in my student days I visited Ratcliffe-on-Soar, one of those Trent valley power stations that I think you have in mind. It had four 500 MW steam turbines and four 17.5 MW gas turbines for 'peak clipping'. It had eight cooling towers which dominated the site, despite the flue stack being taller, (but a lot smaller in diameter). Such a power station has more than sixteen times the output than somewhere like Musandam but perhaps a thermal efficiency of 40% against 60%. That would imply that R-o-S has to dump 3,000 MW of waste heat (up the flue and via the cooling towers) and Musandam only 80 MW, which given the absence of a nearby cold river and the high ambient air temperatures might be no mean feat. [Note, these are my estimates, If anyone knows better feel free to comment.]