GE to provide gas turbines for 360MW Turkish fast-track project

Helping to meet Turkmenistan’s growing power requirements, GE will provide its aeroderivative gas turbine technology to Çalık Enerji, an energy company in Turkey. Three power plants will be built at the Akhal, Mary and Lebap sites as part of a 360-MW fast-track project, with the Akhal and Mary sites expected to enter commercial service by the end of 2013 and Lebap to follow in February 2014.

GE will provide nine of its ecomagination qualified LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbines to Çalık Enerji, the Turkish engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm handling this project. The Akhal site, located near Ashgabat, will feature two LM6000-PF units and one LM6000-PC unit; the Mary site, located in the city of Mary, will feature three LM6000-PC units; and the Lehab site, located in Turkmenabat, will feature three LM6000-PF aeroderivative gas turbines.

The LM6000 is said to have achieved more than 21 million operating hours, with more than 1,000 units shipped to customers globally—four times more experience than all other competing gas turbines in its class combined. GE’s LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbines operate at high reliability and flexibility and are capable of zero water consumption while achieving lower emissions compared to other units in their class.

Greater reliability and flexibility

The LM6000 is said to offer reliability of greater than 99 percent and availability of more than 97 percent, along with a high level of operating flexibility and proven dry low nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions technology that guarantees NOx emissions as low as 15 ppm at 15 percent Oxygen. The machine’s high efficiency is expected to lower fuel consumption per unit of power output than competitive technologies, yielding fuel cost savings and carbon dioxide reductions for turbine operators.

According to the International Energy Agency, natural gas plays a significant role in Turkmenistan’s overall energy consumption with roughly one-third of the country’s gas fueling power generation while another third helps to operate the gas industry’s upstream and processing sector. However, the country faces challenges in bringing those reserves to the rest of the world because of geographical challenges and insufficient export pipeline infrastructure. As a result, Turkmenistan is a good fit for distributed power projects such as the ones at the Akhal, Mary and Lebap sites, which will provide on-site power quickly and help avoid energy shortages in the country.

Saim Dinc, CEO for Çalık Enerji said, “As demand for power grows throughout Turkmenistan, we wanted to ensure that our customers continue to receive power in a timely manner and that social and living conditions in towns, villages and settlements improve thanks to additional power plants and the electrification of all regions of the country, including the most remote ones. Therefore, we chose to build three power plants, bringing 240 megawatts to Turkmenistan within six months and a total of 360 megawatts by early 2014.”

Darryl Wilson, vice president and chief commercial officer—distributed power for GE Power & Water said, “The flexibility, fast-start capabilities and overall performance of our LM6000 units will help provide reliable on-site power for the region.”