Improvement of the performance of a Demonstration Thermal Power Plant

Abstract: Power generation with steam as the working fluid has been proven technology in many developed countries around the world. The advantages in using this technology include its ability to use a wide range of fuel and using the cheapest material (water) as a working fluid. This means that if this technology is invested in it can boost the levels of power generation especially in developing countries where only the minority of the population has access to electricity. Currently there is no power plant in Uganda which uses steam technology despite Uganda being endowed with vast sources of fuel ranging from solar, biomass, geothermal and the recently discovered oil in the Albertan region. Blessed by nature, Uganda has a lot of potential to generate power using steam technologies which power when generated can boost the economic development of the country. Due to a low technology level in the country in areas of power generation, there are few commercial steam power plants which are mainly owned by sugar manufacturers and some of them generate power which is supplied to the National grid. There are however accessible demonstration steam power plants in the engineering faculties at both Makerere and Kyambogo Universities. However, the one at Makerere University is malfunctioned and one can only make a study of the performance of these power plants using the plant at Kyambogo University. This study can help the researcher understand the exact challenges of steam power plants, the performance and how to improve efficiency of performance.