Widget-temp: a Novel Web-based Approach for Thermoeconomic Analysis and Optimization of Conventional and Innovative Cycles

In a deregulated energy market the adoption of multipurpose and flexible software tools for the optimal design and sizing of energy systems is becoming mandatory. For these reasons, we have developed WIDGET-TEMP (Web-based Interface and Distributed Graphical Environment for TEMP, ThermoEconomic Modular Program), a tool which is the result of an interdisciplinary research which applied recent IT innovations such as XML and web-based approaches to the analysis and optimization of energy plant layouts on a thermoeconomic basis. WIDGET provides an interface for remotely accessing the internal thermoeconomic analysis, the full life-cycle cost and investment assessment, which includes the economic impact of environmental costs due to pollutant emissions. This approach reduces the requirements for the local machine in terms of processor time and memory, and allows users to exploit the tool just when needed. An initial functional productive diagram of the plant is now automatically drawn and is available to the user on a visual basis. We present a general description of the tool organization and outline the approach for modeling the technical performance and cost of the component. Then, we describe the latest upgrades of TEMP, and report the new gas turbine cost equations. Finally, the tool is applied to a conventional simple and combined cycle, showing both the usability of the new tool and the reliability of the results. INTRODUCTION Whenever a new energy conversion process has to be designed or upgraded, the frequently asked questions are: what type, how much? The basic features that can make the difference are, of course, the performance and the cost. Then, once the basic layout has been decided and the preliminary design point settled, other considerations about reliability, maintainability, availability can lead to continuous improvements of the power plant and its organization. However, the original choice influences all the following developments and should be carefully taken. In this respect, tools that can provide estimates of the technical and economic performance of different plant layouts become very helpful. WIDGET-TEMP is a new software environment aimed at the thermoeconomic analysis and optimization of conventional and innovative energy systems at on-design conditions. The software represents the latest evolution of the TEMP (ThermoEconomic Modular Program) code, developed over the last ten years by the TPG. The TEMP had wide capabilities for the thermoeconomic analysis of power plants and it was used for several research works and publications [1-9]. The major limitations of TEMP derived from its implementation using the FORTRAN language of the source code. In fact, this affected the usability and user-friendliness of the tool, which could be effectively exploited only by experienced users. No visual interface was available and the input/output was managed through numerical files. This required a long training/learning time for new users, who could easily make mistakes in the definition of the plant layout and in the interpretation of the results. This was the motivation for the development of WIDGET-TEMP. The WIDGET web-based approach allows users to exploit all the TEMP potentialities directly from their web browser. The TEMP can now be run locally or, alternatively, on a remote machine, which is accessed via Internet. The WIDGET interface provides the possibility of building up and configuring various types of power plant in a visual environment. So, new users can now have a much more straightforward approach to the tool, and time can be saved both in the definition of the