Germany's E.ON Inaugurates CCGT Power Plant at Ingolstadt

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Irsching-5 combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, engineered and constructed by Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) was recently inaugurated at Ingolstadt in the German state of Bavaria. The power project, which took nearly two years to build, will operate with a fuel efficiency of 59.5%. The Irsching-5 CCGT power plant is owned by GemeinschaftsKraftwerk Irsching GmbH (GKI) (Vohburg, Germany).

GKI is jointly owned by Mainova AG (ETR:MNV6) (Frankfurt, Germany), E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH (Hannover, Germany) and N-ERGIE AG (Nuremburg, Germany). Mainova, N-ERGIE and E.ON Kraftwerke hold stakes of 15%, 25% and 60%, respectively, in GKI. E.ON Kraftwerke, a fully owned subsidiary of E.ON AG (OTC:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany) will be the operator of the power plant. Siemens completed the 450 million euro order to deliver the 847-megawatt (MW) CCGT power project at Ingolstadt on a turnkey basis.

The Irsching-5 CCGT power plant is located at the site of an existing power plant in Ingolstadt. E.ON, which is focusing on refurbishing the existing facilities, is also planning a CCGT power plant at the same location. The Irsching-4 CCGT power project, which has a generating capacity of 530 MW, is slated to begin operations in 2011. In 2007-09, about 50% of E.ON's planned investments went toward augmentation and refurbishment of the company's power plants.

The Irsching-5 power project will consist of Siemens' SST5-5000 series steam turbines and two units of SGT5-4000 F gas turbines. Other equipment will include the latest SPPS-T3000 instrumentation and control system, three hydrogen-cooled generators, and allied electrical systems. Sources indicate that the power plant will be able to achieve fuel 59.5% efficiency because of the quadruple flow, F-class gas turbine technology and low-pressure steam turbines. The power plant will also include state-of-the-art burner technology, which will keep nitrogen dioxide at levels lower than 15 parts per million. The Irsching-5 power plant has been designed to reach full operating output in 30 to 40 minutes with 250 manual starts per year.

Conventional gas-turbine power plants operate on pure peak loads and have the ability to start quickly. However, the advanced technology and high efficiency of the Irsching-5 plant will also allow medium load operations to be carried out profitably. The fast startup can supply intermediate loads, and the turndown can also be improved to bring down carbon-dioxide emissions and increase efficiency.

Siemens' SGT5-4000 F gas turbine is about 5 meters high, 13 meters long and weighs about 440 tons. There are about 7,000 individual components in this air-cooled turbine. The rotor blades have been built to endure temperatures reaching 1,500 degrees Celsius. Operating alone, the SGT5-4000F gas turbine can provide fuel efficiency of about 39%. In a CCGT environment, fuel efficiency can be as high as 60%. The higher efficiency of these turbines has been attributed to the use of air, rather than steam, high-tech compressor blades, and an advanced sealing system that cuts air leakage. Globally, more than 8,000 units of Siemens' SST-5000 series of steam turbines are in operation, accounting for about 540,000 MW of power-generating capacity worldwide.

Industry experts indicate that annual greenhouse gas emissions at each power plant built with Siemens' technology will be about 70,000 tons below the average emission levels in global power-generating facilities. In the next 15 years, industry experts predict that global energy demand is likely to double. The power equipment sector growth will be spurred by demand for turbines in Asia and Europe.

In Europe, the demand is expected to come from power producers refurbishing existing facilities. By 2020, Germany is likely to replace about 40,000 MW of generating capacity with fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. While Siemens' technology could emerge as a popular choice, there will be stiff competition from the highly efficient GT-24/26 and H-system turbine technologies developed by Alstom SA (EPA:ALO) (Levallois-Perret, France) and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), respectively.

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