GE nets orders across the globe; Brazilian activity boils
Contents
Petrobras plays big in Brazil's power sector
El Paso, Xcel, Duke order for Brazilian projects
El Paso Energy orders 16; Enron gets eight; CAT-LEO one; DEI four
Plant Scherer to install coal reburn system
Reburn 101
Baconton gets Sprint technology upgrade
New SPRINT features
New Illinois, Wisconsin plants use GE turbines
GE Power Systems and other GE businesses recently announced several significant contracts spanning the globe. Those contracts include agreements totaling more than US$1.5 billion to supply 54 gas turbines and additional equipment and services for 15 new power plants designed to produce more than 4,600 MW to help meet Brazil's need for more power.
According to Gilbert Amengual, GE's regional executive for Latin America power systems sales, the projects represent part of Brazil's overall energy program to add 15 GW of additional power by 2003, including 2,012 MW by the end of next year.
"We are very pleased to be participating in this initial round of projects, and we are continuing to hold discussions with other customers in Brazil for additional projects," Amengual said.
Besides orders for the 54 gas turbines announced at this year's Power-Gen International in Orlando, GE Power Systems had received orders for 41 units (2,063 MW) for Brazilian power projects by the end of October.
S&S Energy Products, another GE business, received orders for 30 LM6000 GTGs, with 28 to be used for projects in Brazil and two to be installed along the Bolivia-Brazil border. To date, 36 of GE's LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbines are up and running in Brazil.
"This strong level of activity in Brazil is part of a growing global trend toward the use of efficient, environmentally friendly gas turbine technology," said Mark M. Little, vice president of energy products for GE Power Systems. "We expect to finish 2000 with US$23 billion in total orders for energy products and services, a 64% increase over last year."
Of the 54 gas turbines involved with this latest round of Brazilian activity, 19 are F technology machines, six are 7EA technology units and 29 are LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbines.
F technology, 7EA technology round-up
Petrobras plays big in Brazil's power sector
Petrobras of Brazil, one of the world's largest oil companies, plays a key role in the development of many of the new power generation projects in the country, and it contracted directly with GE Power Systems for equipment in four of the new projects, Little said.
Under the agreements, GE plans to supply Petrobras with two MS7001FA gas turbine generators plus technical services for installation and training for the Ibirité power plant in Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais. GE also plans to provide two more 7FA units for the REFAP project in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Petrobras partnered with Fiat Avio for the Ibirité project.
Both of these plants will supply power for Petrobras refineries, with the excess power sold to the Brazilian grid. Petrobras expects the plants to start up in 2001, producing 300 MW in simple-cycle operation. The company expects to convert the plants to combined cycle in late 2003 or early 2004.
For the third Petrobras project—Tres Lagoas in Mato Grosso do Sul—GE will supply four MS6001FA gas turbine generators for this 240 MW plant. Petrobras expects commercial operations to start by the end of next year.
GE Power Systems also plans to supply four MS7001FA gas turbines to Petrobras for a new plant in Cubatao, Brazil. These four units will generate 640 MW in simple cycle and represent the foundation for the development of two combined-cycle power blocks totaling 1,000 MW. Petrobras expects the first two turbines to start simple cycle operation in the second half of 2002. (Back to top)
El Paso, Xcel, Duke order for Brazilian projects
GE plans to supply six MS7001EA gas turbine generators and two MS6001FA gas turbine generators to El Paso Energy for three separate projects in Brazil. El Paso Energy plans to install three 7EAs at the Termo Norte 2 power plant in Porto Velho, state of Rondonia. The other three will go into the Termo Catarinense plant in Joinville, state of Santa Catarina. El Paso Energy expects these 240 MW plants to be operational by 2003.
El Paso hasn't yet identified or announced locations for the two 6FAs, which it expects to generate 140 MW.
GE also signed a contract to supply one MS7001FA gas turbine generator to Enersul of Brazil for a new power plant in Campo Grande. Also, GE secured a contract with Xcel Energy of the U.S. to provide a 209FA combined-cycle system for the Bahia Blanca power station in Argentina, which will export 500 MW to Brazil.
And finally for the new F technology orders, Duke Energy plans to use two 7FA gas turbines for the 500 MW Pederneira plant. Duke expects the plant to be operational by 2003. (Back to top)
LM6000 aeroderivative technology round-up
El Paso Energy orders 16; Enron gets eight; CAT-LEO one; DEI four
Of the 29 LM6000 aeroderivatives, 16 go to El Paso Energy for a project in Macae, Brazil.
Enron currently intends to use eight units for the Riogen merchant plant in the state of Rio de Janeiro, close to Seropedica. CAT-LEO, a subsidiary of Companhia Forca e Luz Cataguazes, purchased the first LM6000 for a two-unit project called Termo Cataguazes at Juiz de Fora in the state of Minas Gerais.
And Duke Energy International (DEI) ordered four LM6000s for projects in Corumba, Brazil and Puerto Suarez, Bolivia. The Puerto Suarez plant plans to export power to the Brazilian grid. GE expects to deliver most of the LM6000s by the end of next year.
"Many of the projects are still under development, with significant regulatory and financing issues yet to be addressed," Amengual said. "However, with these agreements GE and its customers are ensuring that equipment availability will not be an impediment to Brazil meeting its near- and longer-term electricity needs." (Back to top)
U.S. projects
Plant Scherer to install coal reburn system
GE Power Systems also recently announced several U.S. projects, including a contract to supply coal reburn systems for units 1 and 2 at Plant Scherer near Juliette, GA. To be installed in the spring of 2001 and 2002 respectively, Southern Company subsidiary, Georgia Power—the plant operator—expects the coal reburn system to significantly reduce NOx emissions.
Both of the units at Plant Scherer have an 870 MW capacity with coal burning, tangentially fired boilers and GE steam turbines. GE Energy Services—the Atlanta-based services division of GE Power Systems—has installed 13 reburn systems on a variety of boiler configurations including a 610 MW unit that went into commercial operation earlier this year.
According to Anthony James, plant manager at Plant Scherer, the coal reburn systems will allow it to meet its NOx reduction goals. "We are excited about this project. It will reinforce Southern Company's position as one of the leaders in the application of new power generation technology." (Back to top)
Reburn 101
"Reburn" is a combustion modification technology that cost effectively and efficiently reduces NOx emissions by staging both fuel and air in the combustion process, said John Vanderhoef, general manager of GE Air Quality Services, a recently established business within GE Energy Services.
The majority of the combustion air and fuel mixes at the main burners operated in the same manner as any conventional firing system. Reburn systems inject a portion of the fuel into the reburn zone located above the main burners to create a slightly fuel-rich area in the furnace, where most of the NOx produced in the main combustion zone reduces to harmless atmospheric nitrogen.
Overfire air then injects above the reburn zone through specially designed ports to complete the combustion process.
Vanderhoef said a wide variety of fuels can be used as the reburn fuel in this process, including natural gas, oil, coal, orimulsion, and others. With reburn system costs typically well below US$25 per kW, he said, this technology represents a proven, cost-effective alternative to SCR for many of the boilers in the U.S. that need to comply with stricter environmental regulations.
"The Plant Scherer project will further demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of this technology," Vanderhoef said. "Since there is no fuel premium when coal is used as the reburn fuel instead of natural gas, we fully expect our coal reburn systems to achieve even greater commercial success than Energy and Environmental Research Corporation's (EER) gas reburn systems have."
EER developed the reburn technology and, Vanderhoef said, GE Power Systems improved upon the technology when it bought EER last year. (Back to top)
Baconton gets Sprint technology upgrade
GE Aeroderivative and Package Services (GEAPS) is upgrading four LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbine generator sets to operate with GE's latest generation SPRINT spray intercooling technology. The units operate at the Baconton power plant in Mitchell County, GA.
"We wanted to take advantage of the most recent technology from GE. That's why we asked GEAPS to install the latest generation of the SPRINT spray intercooling system. It will help boost power to over 49 MW versus the 47 MW we now produce under site conditions using the earlier SPRINT system," said Steve Howard of Atlanta-based CornerStone Power, which co-owns the Baconton plant.
In warmer weather, he said, SPRINT provides yet another advantage. At 900F, CornerStone expects to see an additional 8 MW of power output using SPRINT, "even without chillers," Howard said.
Three of the four LM6000PA packages were relocated from Argentina and converted by GEAPS in May from 50 to 60 hertz operation under a fast track schedule. The conversion to PC models also included the installation of dual fuel and SPRINT systems. The units started providing peak power in June.
The four converted LM6000 gas turbines operate nearby the co-located SOWEGA site that features two LM6000 PC SPRINT gas turbine generator sets, which have been running since the summer of 1999. GE performed several tests to verify the performance characteristics of the latest version of SPRINT technology at the SOWEGA site. (Back to top)
New SPRINT features
SPRINT water injects into the airflow path through a series of 47 air-assisted spray injection nozzles, 23 located at the low-pressure compressor inlet and 24 at the high-pressure compressor inlet. Air for the system comes form the engine's 8th stage customer bleed extraction port.
By using the SPRINT spray intercooling system, the compressor pressure ration increases and additional air can be directed through the compressor to increase the gas turbines output characteristics. The latest design also provides improved water usage per incremental MW generated.
The following is an overview of the GEAPS conversion to the latest generation SPRINT technology.
- Modify main engine skid piping, including:
- Piping and associated hardware
- Hose assembly, latest generation SPRINT water connection (23)
- Hose assembly, latest generation SPRINT nozzle air connection (23)
- Bracket, manifold mount (8)
- Manifold, water in
- Manifold, air in
- Install main engine skid flow and instrument diagram hardware including:
- Valve, block/bleed
- Pressure transmitter
- Pressure gauge
- Hose assembly
- Ball valve (2)
- Flow meter
- Strainer
- Orifice
- Check valve (2)
- Solenoid valves
- Install inlet volute including SPRINT water injection nozzles (23).
- Update control system to control logic for latest generation SPRINT operation.
- Supervise equipment installation.
GEAPS expects to complete the installation of the latest generation SPRINT systems at Baconton by the end of this year. (Back to top)
New Illinois, Wisconsin plants use GE turbines
Under two contracts totaling more than US$45 million, GE Power Systems supplied gas turbines and additional equipment and services for two new power plants in Illinois and Wisconsin. Both plants will provide peak power.
One of the plants—in Joppa, IL—was a fast-track project with the plant starting up in July, just six months after the contract signing. GE Power Systems received a contract of more than US$21 million from Massac Enterprise of Joppa to supply two MS6001B gas turbines, two T600C open air-cooled generators, a control system and technical advisory services for the new 89 MW, simple cycle plant.
In the second project, GE holds a contract of about US$24 million to provide two MS6001B gas turbines and auxiliary equipment, two TA3646 generators, a control system, training and technical advisory services to the Dairyland Power Cooperative of La Crosse, WI. The 71 MW simple cycle power plant will be in Elk Mound, WI, with commercial operation expected in June of next year. (Back to top)
By April C. Murelio, Managing Editor, Power Online
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