Performance of Power Plant Cooling Lakes in Poland

Poland's Institute of Meteorology and Water Management conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of cooling lakes in dissipating the waste heat from steam electric generating stations. The study was conducted at two locations: (1)The Konin Lake Complex, which consists of five lakes with a total surface area of 12.35 km² to provide cooling for two power plants with a total electrical capacity of 1,783 MWe; and (2)Rybnik Power station (800 MWe), which uses an impoundment of the Ruda River with a surface area of 4.65 km². Meteorological and power plant operating data were collected and analyzed to determine the rate of heat exchange at the cooling lake surface. Over an annual cycle, the rate of heat exchange for both locations was approx 16 kcal/m²-hr-°C. The values determined for the Polish locations compare favorably with empirical data reported in the technical literature.