The initial stages of a power plant design involve analyzing the plant from a cyclic perspective. Consider a steam cycle power plant with a net power output of 1000 MW and an estimated thermal efficiency of 28%. Heat is transferred to the cycle from a reservoir at 800 K and rejected from the cycle to a reservoir at 275 K.
If the heat transfers to and from the cycle are considered reversible (an ideal scenario)
and the dead state temperature is 275 K, determine,

a. The exergy destruction rate of the power plant (MW)

Assume that the power output, thermal efficiency, and reservoir temperatures remain the same but the model is now modified to make it more realistic. Consider the case where the power plant receives heat at 740 K and rejects heat at 300 K. In other words, the heat transfers now occur due to a finite temperature difference making them irreversible. For this modified model determine,

b. The exergy destruction rate for the high temperature heat transfer process (MW)

c. The exergy destruction rate of the power plant (MW)

d. The exergy destruction rate for the low temperature heat transfer process (MW)

e. The sum of parts (b), (c), and (d). How does this compare to the result computed for part (a)?
From the viewpoint of one of the power plant design engineers, what does the preceding analysis reveal?