Latest Model GE Turbines Powering Wide Range of Global Projects

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Turbines from the GE range are currently on order, or are being installed to supply sizeable chunks of power worldwide. Applications cover the spectrum of energy projects, from a waste to energy (WTE) project in Spain, to the expansion of power capacity in Saudi Arabia.

A 56 MW steam-turbine-generator has been shipped by GE Power Systems (NYSE:GE) (Atlanta, Georgia) unit, GE Oil & Gas (Florence, Italy) to Bilbao, Spain to be used in a WTE project (PEC 76000041) at the municipal waste incineration plant. The combined cycle system includes the steam turbine, a GE LM6000PD gas turbine and an incinerator. Heat from the gas turbine exhaust will be used to produce steam for the turbine and also by burning refuse. Half of the household garbage from Spain's Bizkaia region is incinerated at the waste plant.

The WTE project is owned by Zabalgarbi (Bilbao, Spain), which uses a range of clean, highly efficient energy recovery processes in the Bilbao area. The plant, which is expected to start commercial service in 2004, will supply around 100 MW of electricity to the national grid.

The GE steam turbine can be customized to meet plant specifications, using typical building block criteria. The single casing, reheat machine offers high operational flexibility and can be configured for either 50 or 60-hertz applications. It features a back-to-back arrangement and an off-the-shelf regulating valve system and is suitable for use in a combined cycle plant with a reheat temperature of up to 565C.

Two more contracts for GE Power in Spain come from Iberdrola Generacion (Madrid, Spain) for combined cycle systems for two power projects totaling more than 1,600 MW. The CCC Arcos de la Frontera Grupo III project in Cadiz (PEC 76000052) and the Escombreras project in Murcia will be the first installations to feature the GE MS9001FB (Frame 9FB) gas turbines, which are the latest evolution of GE's 50-hertz technology. The first six 60 hertz, Frame 7FB turbines are already in commercial operation in the US.

The Arcos III project will produce around 810MW when it comes into service and the Escombreras project 815 MW. Both of the plants will use natural gas at a combined-cycle thermal efficiency of more than 58% that will put them in the global top bracket of combined cycle power stations.

The gas turbines will be manufactured at GEýs Greenville, South Carolina, plant and the steam turbine and generators will be built at the company's Schenectady, New York, plant. The Frame 9FB turbines are equipped with GE's advanced, Dry Low NOx2+ combustion systems and will limit NOx emissions to 25 ppm or less. GE will also supply heat recovery steam generators, a distributed control system, training and technical assistance for the projects.

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia GE will supply eight 7EA combustion turbines to the existing plant of 27 simple cycle units for the Saudi Electricity Company's Power Plant 3 (PP3) expansion project. PP3 will have a capacity of 480 MW when complete.

Black & Veatch (Overland Park, Kansas) has been selected by Saudi's National Contracting Company (NCC) to provide engineering services and project management for the plant expansion, which will meet power demands from the city of three million people. Engineering began on the project in July and construction is scheduled to start in January 2004 with all units coming on line between February and July 2005.

Black & Veatch is currently providing engineering services and project management for the 90 MW Al Khafji power project (PEC 97000153) in Saudi Arabia, which has three simple cycle power units and is scheduled for completion early in 2004. The company sees the opportunity to expand its services in the Middle East and develop its relationship with NCC.