Patent ID: 8447564

Claim:
A performance evaluation system for determining an overall performance of a power plant including a plurality of components, said system comprising a plurality of sensors communicatively coupled to a processor programmed to evaluate data received from the sensors, said processor configured to: generate a first reference model of the power plant using specification data for a plurality of process components included in the power plant; receive measured data from at least one of the plurality of sensors; generate a first measured model of the power plant using the measured data; determine the performance impact of the at least one of the plurality of components of the power plant on the overall thermal performance of the power plant; normalize the performance impact of the at least one of the plurality of components of the power plant to design conditions; determine the impact to plant output and heat rate of at least one of the plurality of components; generate a reconciliation graph using the determined performance impact of the plurality of components, the measured data, and the determined impact to plant output and heat rate; and output the reconciliation graph to a user.