GE's flexible and efficient combined cycles

GE's FlexEfficiency 60 portfolio boasts of the capability to reach greater than 61 percent thermal efficiency. Like its 50-hertz counterpart, the FlexEfficiency 50 Plant introduced in 2011, the FlexEfficiency 60 Plant is able to rapidly increase or decrease its power output in response to fluctuations in wind and solar power, enabling the integration of more renewable resources onto the power grid. 

(GE's latest 7F-7 series gas turbine)

The FlexEfficiency boasts of a 61% ISO efficiency capability, achieving 30% load in 7 minutes, 66% in 10 minutes, and full-load, 30 minutes. Turndown to 14% retaining emission guarantees and 100 MW/minute ramp rate are the other features. 

The FlexEfficiency 60 Portfolio will include four gas turbines covering a range of customer needs. The newest is the 7F and the 7F 5-series. These technologies are available to customers today. A new 7F 9-series, configured to be the largest and most efficient in the portfolio, and an enhanced 7F 3-series will be available in the future. The FlexEfficiency 60 Portfolio also includes an enhanced D-17 steam turbine, H26 hydrogen-cooled generator and Mark* VIe Integrated Control System that can be configured into the FlexEfficiency 60 Combined-Cycle Power Plant.

GE has bagged $1.2 billion in new sales for orders for the FlexEfficiency portfolio. The orders comprise of 19 gas turbines—13 for the 7F 5-series gas turbine and six for the new, larger 7F 7-series gas turbine introduced today. The 7F 7-series builds on the success of the 7F 5-series and GE’s F-class technology.

Below is a breakdown of the FlexEfficiency 60 Portfolio projects:

Chubu Electric Power, Japan—GE will ship six 7F 7-series gas turbines to Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.’s Nishi-Nagoya thermal power plant in Nagoya city, Japan. The plant will produce more than 2,300 megawatts in combined-cycle operation. GE will supply the six 7F 7-series gas turbines to Toshiba, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project. The first unit will be shipped in February 2016 with all six turbines expected to be in service by March 2018. In addition to the equipment, GE will supply parts for the project.

Riyadh Power Plant 12, Saudi Arabia—GE will supply eight 7F 5-series gas turbine-generators for the expansion of Saudi Electricity Company’s (SEC) PP12 project, which will add more than 1,990 megawatts of power to help SEC meet its future electricity demands when it enters commercial operation in 2015. PP12 will be the largest air-cooled combined-cycle project in Saudi Arabia using GE’s F-class gas turbines and will be the first application of 7F 5-series gas turbines in the region. The gas turbines will burn natural gas provided by the Saudi national oil and gas company Saudi Aramco. The machines will be equipped with GE’s latest dry low NOx combustion technology to reduce emissions, extend maintenance intervals and enable the plant to operate more flexibly.

Cherokee Clean Air Clean Jobs Project, Colorado—Two GE 7F 5-series gas turbines will power the Cherokee project in Denver, which will convert an existing coal plant into a cleaner burning, natural gas combined-cycle facility. The Cherokee repowering project is part of Colorado’s Clean Air Clean Jobs Act passed in 2010, which helps retire or retrofit the state’s coal plants. The new plant will be owned and operated by the Public Service Company of Colorado, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xcel Energy, a major U.S. electric and natural gas company. GE expects to ship the gas turbines in the fourth quarter of 2013, with commercial operation beginning in the fourth quarter of 2015. GE also will supply technical direction, training and spare parts.

Hess Corporation—GE will provide two 7F 5-series gas turbines and a GE D11 steam turbine to Hess Corporation for an upcoming project in the United States.

Customer in Western U.S.—GE will provide one7F 5-series gas turbine for an industrial application in the Western United States. This new combined-cycle power plant will repower coal fired steam turbines with cleaner, flexible natural gas.