House and Senate Move Gas-Turbine Efficiency Forward

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With today's outlook on power generation and various environmental regulations facing several different types of fossil fuel generation, it is good to know that at least some progress is being made. In December 2009, legislation was introduced to help one segment of the Power Industry increase efficiency. The legislation will provide funding and grants to help establish research, development and technology-demonstration programs to improve the efficiency of gas turbines used in combined-cycle and simple-cycle power generation.

Two pieces of legislation have been presented: H.R. 3029, sponsored by Rep. Paul Tonka (D-NY), and S. 2900, sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), better known as the Gas Turbine Efficiency Act of 2009. Both bills are being reviewed by the Committee on Energy and the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy. Initial hearings about the bill were held on June 15, and received positive feedback from the Department of Energy. Both bills depict a multi-year, multi-phase program for research, development and technology demonstration for both new gas turbines and turbines in operation, which number roughly 1,900 natural gas-fired units in the U.S. This program calls for technologies that would improve the efficiency of units to 65% from the existing 60% for combined-cycle units and 50% from the current 40% efficiency for simple-cycle units.

The two bills call for cutting-edge engineering and detailed gas-turbine design for power-generation combustion-turbines. The bills address such things as the development of high-temperature materials including alloys, coatings, and ceramics; the improvement of heat-transfer capabilities; combustion technologies that improve higher firing temperatures while lowering emissions; advanced operational control systems; compressor-section advancements; and the development of testing facilities for these components. This will be to facilitate the conception and design of advanced, highly efficient gas turbines that can meet the 62% and 47% efficiency requirements, while addressing lower heat rates.

The second parts of the bills consist of providing technology demonstrations that are economically sound and the manufacturing of components that can reach the 65% and 50% efficiency rates. If this program is approved and implemented, it would increase the effiencey of approximately 868 units that are between eight and 20 years old. This would drastically reduce fuel consumption and costs by billions of dollars. Additionally, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced, jobs would be created in the clean-energy sector, and energy-independence would increase.

The program would award $85 million dollars per year from 2011 through 2014 for the design, development and testing of such technologies. Companies such as General Electric, Siemens, Alstom, Pratt & Whitney and others involved in the Gas Turbine Association are currently backing these bills and watching both of them very closely.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.