News | June 22, 2000

S&S Energy Introduces New 18MW Gen Set

S&S Energy Products recently announced a new addition to its LM product line, the 18 MW, GE LM2000 aeroderivative gas turbine-generator set. With high thermal efficiency, its ideal for power generation and mechanical drive applications, said Jay Manning, global sales vice president for S&S Energy Products.

"Worldwide trends show a strong need for products in the 5 to 20 MW range. Therefore, instead of starting from scratch, we decided to look at how we could improve our existing products," Manning said. "That is why the core LM2000 engine will have 100% commonality with GE's popular LM2500 aeroderivative gas turbine. The LM2000 will offer 18 MW for power generation, 24,000 shaft horsepower for mechanical drive uses, as well as high 35.5% thermal efficiency."

Manning said S&S Energy chose the LM2500 as the core engine because of its proven experience, high reliability, the large number of installed units, and demonstrated economic value. The LM2500 went into service in the 1970s. Since then more than 1,300 units have gone into industrial service, logging more than 22 million fired hours. On a 12-month rolling average, the LM2500 fleet reliability and availability was 99.7% and 96.7%, respectively, he said.

The LM2000 will be available with either GE's standard or Dry Low Emissions combustion systems. The LM2000 has a lower firing temperature than the LM2500, which means hot section replacement intervals for the LM2000 extend to 50,000 hours on natural gas and 25,000 hours on liquid fuel. This is about twice the length of time between maintenance intervals compared to the LM2500.

Also, Manning said, the large installed base of LM2500s operating worldwide allows LM2000 customers to easily tap into GE's mature service initiatives. Large user groups and a significant fleet of spare engines, rotables and parts also are available to ensure reliable LM2000 operation, he said.

Package Modifications
S&S Energy Products expects to make several modifications to its standard package design for the LM2000. Besides a smaller generator and a more compact and cost-effective overall package design, the LM2000 package also features the following:

  • Gas turbine enclosure vent systems complete with vent fan/motor, fire dampers, vent exhaust silencer, instrumentation
  • Fuel system for liquid and gas, complete with control valve, flow meter, return line (liquid), vent (gas), instrumentation
  • Gas turbine lube oil system (synthetic lube oil), complete with oil cooler, engine driven pump, filter, instrumentation
  • Generator lube oil system (mineral oil), complete with oil cooler, pumps, filter, instrumentation
  • Fire protection system, complete with CO2 suppression system, instrumentation, detection devices
  • On/Off Line water wash system, complete with reservoir, nozzles, instrumentation, strainers
  • Turbine control panel including fuel control package sequencer, vibration monitoring, voltage regulator, generator relay protection, and operator interface
  • Air filter sufficient for all ambients, also filters gas turbine enclosure ventilation air

Availability—Coming Early Next Year
GE Industrial AeroDerivative Gas Turbines plans to manufacture the LM2000 core engine at its Evendale, Ohio facility. Customers throughout the globe can order LM2000 gas turbine-generator sets through S&S Energy Products' Houston, TX manufacturing facility. This facility uses packaging procedures certified to ISO 9000 standards, and offers factory full load testing to minimize field startup and debugging time.

S&S Energy expects the first LM2000 gas turbine-generator to be commercially available in the first half of 2001.

Edited by April C. Murelio
editor@poweronline.com