Dear Colleagues,

The power generation field has undergone a drastic evolution in the last decades. Interest in the use of renewable energy sources has grown significantly, since the supply of fossil hydrocarbon resources is decreasing as a consequence of the growing energy demand, but especially due to the ever-increasing need to reduce the relevant environmental impact of fossil-based energy systems. The growing exploitation of renewables has also increased the variability in the power availability, which pushes for an adaptation of systems for power generation based on fossil fuels. Moreover, there is an increasing demand in industries for improving energy efficiency through a better exploitation of alternative energy sources, such as process off-gases, whose production is not always stable.

As a consequence, nowadays, the application of steam turbines for power generation is facing new challenges and requires the implementation of novel and advanced control algorithms in order to obtain optimal performances.

Steam turbines were originally designed to produce energy from fossil fuels: Their mechanics and their control systems are designed assuming a quite stable steam production and few start-up and shut-down cycles. Therefore, the standard control techniques currently applied to turbomachinery are often unable to automatically adapt to changing operating conditions. Therefore, if such techniques are applied in particular domains, such as, for instance, concentrated solar power plants, which is always an increasing field of application, they cannot guarantee the desired performance. Moreover, even the most traditional power production technologies involving both gas and steam power, i.e., combined cycle plants, are facing more stringent requirements in terms of flexibility for the compensation of renewable energy source variability. Control system parameters are often set during the commissioning phase of the brand-new machine, through time-consuming and effort-intensive procedures. Afterwards, such parameters are only seldom readjusted based on semi-heuristic procedures. This implies that the machine should work in non-optimal efficiency conditions during its lifetime and in a responsive way with respect to the steam conditions’ variations. The control procedures need to also allow the correct and efficient operation of the turbomachine in transient conditions and without compromising its integrity. Additionally, the capability of simulating steam condition dynamics in transient scenarios is also impactful for the implementation of advanced steam turbines control logics.

The key aspects of the Special Issue are to present novel research developments related to advanced control algorithms targeted at the optimization of the performances of steam turbines for power generation in any feed condition, as well as throughout the lifetime of the system.

Prof. Dr. Valentina Colla
Guest Editor

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• advanced control schemes
• distributed and networked control systems
• smart grid applications
• hybrid intelligent control
• artificial intelligence and machine learning
• optimal performances
• management of transient conditions
• advanced modeling approaches for control applications
• predictive maintenance