May Completion Expected for Ocean Peaking Power Plant in New Jersey

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Consolidated Edison Incorporated is expecting its Ocean Peaking Power Station to be operational on May 1, 2003. The new facility is located in Lakewood Township, New Jersey, adjacent to Consolidated Edison Development's current Lakewood Cogeneration plant.

The Ocean Peaking Power Station consists of two 172-megawatt (MW) General Electric (GE) MS7001FA combustion turbine generators, with options for a third unit of the same capacity. Combustion turbines are particularly well suited for mechanical drive applications due to their high reliability. They can be uninterruptedly operated for extended periods of times. Each combustion turbine generator will be built with GE's standard weatherproof and sound-reduction barrier and freestanding 75-foot high exhaust stacks, including a horizontal silencer section.

The plant will use natural gas as the primary fuel, and not use any water in the process. It is design to operate mainly at peak times, when the demand for electricity is the greatest. The $120 million facility is built with a simple-cycle configuration, meaning the combustion turbines (CTs) alone are used to generate power. A simple-cycle turbine is an internal combustion turbine with three major parts; an air compressor, power turbine, and burner (s). In the air compressor, a set of bladed rotors compresses the incoming air from the atmosphere. A portion of the compressed air is then diverted through the burners, where fuel is burned raising the temperature of the compressed air. This hot gas is mixed with the rest of the compressed air and directed to the power turbine, the force of the hot air, as it expands pushes a chain of blades, rotating a shaft. The balance of the mechanical energy turns a generator and makes electricity.

The advantages of power generation plants utilizing gas turbines technology include; low construction costs, operating efficiency, shorter construction period, low environmental impact, and quick start-up and shutdown time.

Lockwood Greene (Spartanburg, South Carolina) was chosen as the primary contractor for the plant.

Ocean Peaking Power Limited Partnership, an affiliate of Con Edison Development, a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison Incorporated, will operate the Ocean Peaking Power plant.

Consolidated Edison, Incorporated (NYSE: ED) (New York, New York), is one of the nation's largest investor-owned energy companies, the company invests in energy infrastructure development projects to support the power trading and marketing activities.