Steam turbine power plant utilizing industrial heat pumps to preheat boiler feed-water

A steam turbine power plant, comprising:

• a boiler receiving a feedwater at a desired feedwater temperature and pressure, the boiler configured to heat the feedwater to produce a high-pressure steam, the boiler having a boiler stack to discharge a hot flue gas produced by combustion of a fuel in the boiler;
• one or more steam turbines driven by the high-pressure steam and discharging a portion of the high-pressure steam as a low-pressure steam;
• a condenser configured to capture the low-pressure steam and convert the low-pressure steam to a condensate;
• a condensate receiver tank configured to contain the condensate at a prescribed condensate temperature,
• at least one feedwater pump configured to extract the condensate from the condensate receiver tank and pressurize the condensate;
• a stack economizer coupled to the boiler stack, the stack economizer coupled to a closed loop heat pump source water circuit, the stack economizer configured to heat a heat pump source water in the closed loop heat pump source water circuit to a prescribed source water temperature by extracting a portion of a waste heat from the hot flue gas in the boiler stack;
• a loop pump to circulate the heat pump source water through the stack economizer and the closed loop heat pump source water circuit;
• and
• a plurality of industrial heat pumps arranged in a cascaded series, the plurality of industrial heat pumps defining a feedwater preheat circuit between a first stage industrial heat pump and a final stage industrial heat pump of the plurality of industrial heat pumps to preheat the condensate from the condensate receiver tank and deliver the preheated condensate as the feedwater to the boiler, the plurality of industrial heat pumps connected to the closed loop heat pump source water circuit, extending the closed loop heat pump source water circuit between the final stage industrial heat pump through a first stage industrial heat pump of the plurality of industrial heat pumps, wherein the plurality of industrial heat pumps extract a thermal energy from the heat pump source water, transfer the thermal energy to the feedwater preheat circuit to raise the condensate drawn from the condensate receiver tank from the prescribed condensate temperature to the desired feedwater temperature and delivering the feedwater to the boiler.