Specific Consumption of Equivalent Fuel

In 2009 the specific consumption of equivalent fuel for generation of electricity throughout JSC “OGK-6” increased by 4 g/kWh. This was due to the reduction of generation.

For reference:Using different types of fuel (solid, liquid and gaseous) makes a generalized quantitative calculation of their consumption for power generation impossible without a special procedure of converting different units (tons, m³) into a comparable form.

For this reason in technical records, physical fuel is converted into equivalent fuel.

An equivalent fuel unit is an accounting unit used to compare the effectiveness of different types of fuel and their total amounts. The accepted equivalent unit is 1 kg of fuel with a heating value of 7,000 kcal/kg (29.31MJ/kg). The relationships between units of equivalent and physical fuel are expressed by the following formula:

Where B_y is the amount of equivalent fuel, kg;

В_н is the amount of physical solid or liquid (kg) and gaseous fuel (m³);

is the heating value as per chemical laboratory data of solid, liquid or gaseous fuel in kcal/kg (MJ/kg) or kcal/m³ (MJ/m³) respectively;

— caloric equivalent.

The average caloric values are 7,900 kcal/kg for gas, 9,800 kcal/kg for fuel oil; for coal the caloric value varies depending on the coal grade from 2,200 kcal/kg to 6,250 kcal/kg.

Data on consumption of fuel in equivalent units is used for planning and analyzing the specific consumption of fuel for producing a unit of energy and for calculating the cost of production of heat and electricity.

Using equivalent fuel is particularly convenient for comparing the efficiency of different heat and power installations. The value of SCEF is also influenced by GRES mode of operation. The SCEF of a plant increases if its coal units are operational.

Using equivalent fuel allows a fuel mix or a total energy mix of the overall industry to be made up.