This article will help to consider the problem of thermodynamic optimization of heat power equipment. Solving this issue will allow to increase the energy efficiency of thermal systems by reducing the cost of energy resources. There is a large number of methods for studying power plants, and we will combine two of them: the exergy method and the pinch method. Exergy analysis of thermal systems shows quantitative and qualitative characteristics of efficiency. The pinch method allows us to solve specific design problems to optimize the parameters of heat power facilities. The pinch analysis is based on enthalpy, which does not take into account the heat potential. We propose to conduct a pinch analysis of thermal energy sources using exergy, which can better assess the potential of heat fluxes and show the dependence of the energy of heat fluxes on the ambient temperature. The article provides an exergy analysis of a direct-flow boiler PP2650-255 GM using the pinch method. The results of our work show that in order to increase the energy efficiency of the boiler, it is possible to change the area of the heating surfaces of the economizer and air heater. Thus, exergy pinch analysis is an effective method for increasing the energy efficiency of heat power equipment.