This paper discusses the results of some of the technical and economic analyses performed for cooling the turbine inlet air to a 316.8 MW cogeneration plant in Pasadena, Tex. The objective of these analyses was to select the optimum cooling technology for the plant for enhancing electric power output capacity during the ten-hour on-peak periods. The cooling technologies evaluated in these analyses include evaporative cooling, fogging, an electric centrifugal chiller, a hot water heated single-effect absorption chiller, a direct-fired double-effect absorption chiller, and a hybrid system. The hybrid system selected for this plant incorporates 8300 TR capacity hot water heated single-effect absorption chillers, a 1200 TR capacity electric centrifugal chiller, and a 184,000 ton-h capacity cooling with a chilled water storage system. The hybrid system was retrofitted to the power plant, originally built in 1982, in May 1999.

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