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This paper provides a comparative entrepreneurial analysis of modern combined-cycle power generation technologies and future-oriented high-efficiency oxy-fuel combustion cycles with zero emissions. Considering the main criteria for sustainable development, we identify the generation technology that provides the lowest cost of electricity supply and the maximum economic efficiency of investments with equally high environmental indicators. Based on a comprehensive literature review and comparison of the technical and economic parameters of modern and forward-looking generation technologies under different economic conditions, the paper develops and presents the path of increasing the technical level of generation technologies, corresponding to the conditions of sustainable development at each moment of time. Furthermore, the paper analyses the technical and economic characteristics of the combined-cycle technology successfully applied in the world's energy systems and advanced oxy-fuel combustion cycles. In addition, the paper proposes a multifactorial economic-mathematical model that allows to evaluate the performance indicators of any of the considered technologies in accordance with the criteria for sustainable development.

The paper analyses possible directions for sustainable development of heat supply systems of the countries participating in the Eurasian Economic Union when creating a united electricity market. The present problem is subject to the fact that the key technology for the energy products production which forms the basis of the energy systems of the former Soviet Union countries is combined generation of electric and heat energy at the CHP. At the same time, this type of combined production is ineffective in the energy market conditions, and creation of a unified energy market can significantly affect the energy and economic efficiency of regional heat supply systems and energy security of states. In this regard, possible ways of sustainable development of regional heat supply systems in the context of integration of market pricing mechanisms are proposed and risks of various business models of commercial activity in the sphere of heat supply are identified.

The transition to oxy-fuel combustion power cycles is a prospective way to decrease carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere from the energy sector. To identify which technology has the highest efficiency and the lowest emission level, a thermodynamic analysis of the semiclosed oxy-fuel combustion combined cycle (SCOC-CC), the E-MATIANT cycle, and the Allam cycle was carried out. The modeling methodology has been described in detail, including the approaches to defining the working fluid properties, the mathematical models of the air separation unit, and the cooled gas turbine cycles’ calculation algorithms. The gas turbine inlet parameters were optimized using the developed modeling methodology for the three oxy-fuel combustion power cycles with CO2 recirculation in the inlet temperature at a range of 1000 to 1700 °C. The effect of the coolant flow precooling was evaluated. It was found that a decrease in the coolant temperature could lead to an increase of the net efficiency up to 3.2% for the SCOC-CC cycle and up to 0.8% for the E-MATIANT cycle. The final comparison showed that the Allam cycle’s net efficiency is 5.6% higher compared to the SCOC-CC cycle, and 11.5% higher compared with the E-MATIANT cycle.

The paper analyzes the main issues of power market development for clean energy production within the broader framework of ensuring the country’s energy security. In addition, special attention is paid to the technologies aimed at reducing emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases by the fossil-fired power plants. Even though the future electricity markets would most likely depend on the high shares of renewable energy sources (RES) in the electricity system, energy efficiency such as the one based on the near-zero emission technologies might also play a crucial role in the transition to the carbon-free energy future. In particular, there are the oxy-fuel combustion technologies that might help to reduce the proportion of unburned fuel and increase the efficiency of the power plant while reducing the emissions of flue gases. Our paper focuses on the role and the place of the near-zero emission technologies in the production of clean energy. We applied economic and mathematical models for assessing the prospects for applying oxy-fuel combustion technology in thermal power plants, taking into account the system of emission quotas and changes in the fuel cost. Our results demonstrate that at the current fuel prices, it is advisable to use economical combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT). At the same time, when quotas for greenhouse gas emissions are introduced and fuel costs increase by 1.3 times, it becomes economically feasible to use the oxy-fuel combustion technology which possesses significant economic advantages over CCGT with respect to the capture and storage of greenhouse gases.

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The world community is worried about the effects of global warming. A few agreements on the reduction of CO2 emissions have been signed recently. A large part of these emissions is produced by the power production industry. Soon, the requirements for thermal power plant ecology and efficiency performance may become significantly higher. Thus, the contemporary problem is the development of highly efficient power production facilities with low toxic and greenhouse gas emission. An efficient way to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, which implies maintaining economic growth, is the creation of closed thermodynamic cycles with oxy-fuel combustion. The Allam cycle is one of the most promising among oxy-fuel power plants. A 50 MW pilot Allam cycle plant was built in Texas. The design for a commercial system with an electrical output of 300 MW is under development. This work is devoted to the improvement of the efficiency and environmental safety of oxy-fuel combustion power cycles via the utilization of compressed working fluid heat. The results of computer simulation obtained using AspenONE software demonstrated that an additional circuit in the multi-flow regenerator might increase net efficiency by 3.5%. Besides this, the incorporation of a supercritical carbon dioxide (S–CO2) Brayton cycle with recompression increased the efficiency by 0.2%. Therefore, the maximum net efficiency of the prospective power unit was 51.4%.

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