Alstom ships 700MW GT24 gas turbine to Mexican combined cycle plant

Alstom recently celebrated the first shipment of a GT24 gas turbine from its manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The GT24 will sail via barge down the Tennessee River, and Alstom's customer ACS Cobra will take possession of the unit in New Orleans for transportation to its final destination - Mexico's El Sauz CFE combined cycle power plant.

The upgraded GT24 is said to offer operational flexibility with the capability of producing in a 2-on-1 configuration an output in excess of 700MW, achieving gross efficiency of more than 60% and a spinning reserve capability that can deliver 450MW in just 10 minutes. This spinning reserve capability makes the GT24 ideally suited for countering the intermittency of renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

Alstom introduced its GT24 gas turbine and KA24 combined-cycle power train last year to cater to the North American natural gas electricity generation market. Inaugurated in June of 2010, Alstom's Chattanooga power systems manufacturing facility provides new and retrofit equipment for nuclear, steam, gas and hydroelectric power plants. The plant represents an investment in excess of $300 million that will create up to 350 high-quality jobs at full capacity.