Siemens Seeks CCGT Holy Grail
Siemens has declared its quest to achieve electrical efficiency levels of 63%, and eventually even 65%, from its new gas-fired turbine sets. But it can expect competition.
The Germany-headquartered turbine manufacturing giant said August 7 that testing and validation of advanced HL-class technology under real conditions at Duke Energy’s Lincoln County site in North Carolina, USA. Siemens manufactures turbine sets in both Germany and the USA.
In a step up from its proven SGT-8000H technology, Siemens said its HL-class gas turbines combine a series of new but already tested technologies and design features with the best of past experience that is “clearing the way to efficiency levels beyond 63% with a mid-term goal to reach 65%.”
“It took us ten years from 2000 to 2010 to increase the efficiency of our combined cycle power plants [CCGTs] from 58% to 60%, a further six years to reach 61.5% in 2016 and now we are taking the next step to 63% and beyond,” said Willi Meixner, CEO of the Siemens Power and Gas Division. He added that HL-class offers a simple-cycle ramp-up of 85 MW per minute, ideal for managing intermittency associated with “fluctuating renewables” generation. Its ‘Fortuna’ CCGT, handed over to owner Stadtwerke Dusseldorf in January 2016, achieved net energy conversion efficiency of 61.5%.
Rival giant GE however said June 17 2016 that it had been recognised by Guinness World Records for powering the world’s most efficient CCGT, achieving an efficiency rate of up to 62.22% at EDF’s Bouchain plant in northern France. The turbine set was assembled at GE’s plant in Belfort in eastern France. GE also said the 605 MW CCGT can reach full power in less than 30 minutes, also making it ideal for managing grid intermittency.
Japan's Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems and rival part-Chinese-owned Italy's Ansaldo Energia also compete to supply high-efficiency CCGT systems.
Mark Smedley
On August 4, the EU Council added three Russian individuals and 3 companies to its sanctions list because they jointly authorised the transfer of Siemens-built gas turbines that were meant for delivery to Taman, in Russia's Krasnodar region, to the occupied territory of Crimea instead and thus "undermine[d] the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine."