what is heat rate degradation (in context of power plants)?

Answer 1

In power plants heat rate is calculated to find out the efficiency of the power producing units (Engine-generator). The heat rate is a ratio of the fuel input (in energy measurement) to the output electrical power of the generator connected to the engine.

Depending on the specs given by your fuel supplier the amount of energy per gallon of fuel can be calculated.

Therefore heat rate can be expressed as KJ/kWh or some other way depending on the units used.

the heat rate tells you the efficiency at which the generator converts the heat energy from the fuel to electrical energy.

If expressed as kJ/kWh then the % efficiency can be calculated by multiplying by 1/3600.

Now heat rate degradation is the lowering of the efficiency of the unit. More heat energy is being loss than converted to electrical energy.