GE, Siemens Launch 500-Megawatt Turbines with More Than 60% Efficiency

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--GE Energy, a division of General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), and Siemens Energy, a division of Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany), have surpassed the 60% fuel-conversion, thermal-efficiency mark with their latest combined-cycle, gas-fired (CCGT) turbine models for the power generation sector. It was less than a decade ago when various large turbine manufacturers were claiming bragging rights for turbines, which were inching from the 40% to the 50% efficiency mark.

GE has invested $500 million in research and development on its new FlexEfficiency 50 combined-cycle power plant, which has a power generation rating of 510 Megawatts (MW) and a fuel-efficiency rating of more than 61%. The company claims that the turbine has been engineered to deliver an unprecedented combination of flexibility and efficiency. The ability to rapidly ramp up and down in response to fluctuations in wind and solar power means that the technology will enable the integration of more renewable power sources into power grids.

Based on GE's experience in the design and manufacturing of jet engines, the new plant was engineered to ramp up at a rate of 50 MW per minute. The speed of ramping up and down will enable the grid to be balanced cost effectively, and will allow it to assist in adding more renewable power resources. This flexibility means that the plant can match the power generation requirements of peaks and troughs in demand. The jet engine and gas-turbine combination also produced cleaner energy with lower emissions.

The FlexEfficiency 50 integrates a next-generation 9FB gas-turbine that operates at 50 hertz (Hz); a 109D-14 steam turbine running on waste heat produced by the gas turbine; GE's advanced W28 generator; a Mark Vie integrated control system linking all the technologies; and a heat-recovery steam generator. The new power plant is the first product in GE's new FlexEfficiency portfolio.

At the Irsching 4 power plant in Germany, Siemens has achieved an efficiency of 60.75% and a power generation output of more than 578 MW with its H-class gas turbine, which has been developed in its new generation innovation program.

The new turbine is designed for 400-MW simple-cycle duty and 600-MW combined-cycle duty. In combined-cycle mode Siemens claims the model SGT5-8000H generates enough power to supply the energy needs of a city the size of Berlin, which has a population of about 3.5 million.

The gas turbine power plant shows that climate protection and low-cost power generation that uses fossil fuels can go hand-in-hand, says Siemens. The new H-class plant can react quickly to demands for additional or reduced output. More than 500 MW can be put online in 30 minutes, and the load can be varied by 35 MW per minute.

Siemens invested more than €500 million ($711.89 million) in turbine development and in the construction and operation of a prototype plant at Irsching, which involved 750 employees, including 250 engineers, putting the turbine through 18 months of trials. In mid-2009, the gas turbine plant was extended to form a combined-cycle facility by adding a bottoming steam cycle, featuring an innovative Siemens heat-recovery steam generator and a high-temperature steam turbine operating at 600C.

When the current trial operation phase is completed, E.ON will take over the commercial operation of Irsching 4 in the middle of the year. Siemens already has sold six of the new turbines as 60-Hz versions to a utility in Florida and will deliver them in 2012. A turn-key, single-shaft, combined-cycle power plant is scheduled to go online in South Korea in 2013.

For more information, see October 1, 2009, article - Siemens Energy Reports Successful Trial of Mega gas Turbine at E.ON Energie, and May 21, 2010, article - Germany's E.ON Inaugurates CCGT Power Plant at Ingolstadt.

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