Industry News: September/October 2014
Proposed plant in Poland[/caption]
MHPS orders
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) has received an order for a set of gas turbine and steam turbine for the Bheramara gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plant to be developed by North-West Power Generation Company in Bangladesh. The prime contractor is Marubeni Corporation. The set of gas turbine and steam turbine will be supplied to Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T) of India, a technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing company entrusted with construction of the power plant by Marubeni Corporation on EPC basis. Shipments of the ordered equipment will start in September 2015.
In addition, MHPS Europe has signed a contract to build a lignite-fired, ultra-supercritical- pressure thermal power unit at Turow, Poland, for a power generation company under the corporate umbrella of Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A. (PGE). The 450 MW plant will use MHPS technology in low-grade coal combustion for boilers to enable efficient use of lignite. The plant is slated to commence operations in the middle of 2019.
Further, MHPS and Hitachi China have jointly received an order for an H-25 gas turbine for Ningbo Kefeng Thermal Power (NKTP) in China. The unit on order is to replace an existing gas turbine currently in service in Unit No.1 of NKTP’s thermal power plant in Zhejiang Province. It marks the first order for an H-25 gas turbine received by MHPS since the company was launched. The new turbine is slated to go into operation in the middle of July, 2015.
GE investment
GE’s Measurement & Control business has announced a 26% equity investment in Meridium, as part of its Industrial Internet program, which connects machine intelligence and advanced analytics to drive increased productivity. The companies intend to enter into a joint development and distribution agreement that will integrate Meridium’s asset performance management (APM) software and GE’s Bently Nevada System 1 Asset Condition Monitoring (ACM) technology.
GE’s System 1 ACM technology is part of the Bently Nevada product line that produces machine condition sensors, data acquisition hardware and software. Meridium’s APM aggregates data from System 1 and other plant maintenance systems to provide plant engineers with a dashboard of reliability metrics. This new Industrial Internet software offering will enable more precise condition-based maintenance and in near real-time, resulting in an estimated 10%-30% reduction in maintenance costs.
“The way we do business is being dramatically altered in the era of the Industrial Internet,” said Art Eunson, General Manager of GE’s Bently Nevada product line. “We are realizing the increased productivity and efficiency gains from big data and analytics delivered in real-time.
U.S. Navy qualification status
The Department of the Navy (Naval Sea Systems Command) recently granted MILPRF- 907F qualification status to two antiseize products from Henkel Corporation. Formulated to prevent seizing, galling and corrosion on metals, Loctite C5-A Copper- Based Anti-Seize and Loctite Silver Grade Anti-Seize resist high temperatures, heavy loads, chemicals, fluids and vibration, and are available in general-purpose, metal-free, food-grade, marine-grade and high-purity formulas.
Loctite Silver Grade Anti-Seize is a heavy-duty, petroleum-based lubricant that resists temperatures up to 1,600°F (871°C), and is designed for durability. Fortified with graphite and metallic flake, this silver-colored lubricant is inert and will not evaporate or harden in extreme cold or heat. Both products are designed for maintenance or equipment manufacturing applications, and can be used on bolts, bushings, pipes, fittings, flanges, manifolds, nuts, studs, heat exchangers, valves, steam lines, union retainers and clamps.
NAES acquires ICCT
NAES Corporation has acquired the employees of Portland, Oregon-based ICCT Corporation (ICCT). This enables NAES to expand its services in the areas of regulatory compliance, cyber and physical security design and implementation, compliance tracking managed services, and NERC-compliant background check services. The broader project management and consulting experience that NAES provides includes: NERC CIP compliance program development, documentation creation, audit and preaudit risk mitigation; compliance management software deployment and workflow management; physical security build-out and retrofit for generation plants, substations and corporate buildings for CIP and non-CIP applications; FCC narrow-banding, radio system design, engineering and replacement; state-level interdependency and vulnerability assessments; and disaster recovery/ business continuity planning.
African oil and gas growth
The challenges facing oil & gas companies operating in Africa continue to be diverse and numerous fuelled by fraud, corruption, theft, poor infrastructure and a lack of skilled resources, among others. Regulatory uncertainty and delays in passing laws are severely inhibiting sector development in many countries around the continent.
Chris Bredenhann[/caption]
“Some key players have delayed or cancelled projects until further clarity can be sought in their respective jurisdictions as they cannot move forward with doubts given the long-term nature of the needed investments,” said Chris Bredenhann, PwC Africa Oil & Gas Advisory Leader.
PwC’s ‘Africa oil & gas review’ analyses what has happened in the last 12 months in the oil & gas industry within the major African markets. Despite the continents problems in areas such as an uncertain regulatory framework, corruption and poor physical infrastructure, the survey highlights substantial growth, with new hydrocarbon provinces developing at a significant pace.
Large gas finds in Mozambique and Tanzania, for example, have given notice of East Africa as an emerging player in the global industry. Overall, Africa has proven natural gas reserves of 502 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) with 90% of the continent’s annual natural gas production of 6.5Tcf coming from Nigeria, Libya, Algeria and Egypt.
Siemens Thai plant
Siemens, together with its Japanese partner Marubeni, has erected the turnkey combined cycle power plant Chana 2 in Thailand and handed it over to the national power provider Electric Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). The natural- gas-fired Chana 2 plant consists of two units in a single-shaft configuration. With a total electrical capacity of around 800 MW and an efficiency of 57.3%, Chana 2 is located in the Songkhla province in the south of Thailand.
In 2008, Siemens and Marubeni erected the Chana 1 multi-shaft combined cycle plant. Now, two combined cycle units have been added to the site. They employ the Siemens single-shaft concept, in which the major components (gas turbine, generator and steam turbine) are arranged in one single train. Chana 1 and 2 combined will supply around 1,500 MW to the power grid in southern Thailand.
Siemens supplied the major components, consisting of a model SGT5-4000F gas turbine, an SST5-3000 series steam turbine and a model SGen5-2000H generator for each of the two units at Chana 2. Also included in the scope of supply was the overall electrical system, the SPPA-T3000 I&C system, along with the ancillary and auxiliary systems.
Marubeni was responsible for the heat recovery steam generator, the main transformers, the outdoor switchgear system and the cooling tower; and for erection and installation of the overall plant.
Chana power plant in Thailand[/caption]
In addition, Siemens received an order from Malaysia’s state-owned petroleum corporation, Petronas for the construction of the Pengerang Cogeneration Plant (PCP) in Malaysia. The order requires Siemens to undertake the turnkey construction of the PCP, which comprises four cogeneration units along with a longterm maintenance and service contract. Each unit comes with an H-class gas turbine, a waste-heat recovery steam generator, a steam turbine, associated mechanical and electrical systems and the instrumentation and control system.
PWPS in Argentina
PW Power Systems (PWPS), a part of MHI has announced a contract with Generación Frías S.A. to provide an FT4000 SWIFTPAC unit for its location in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. This will be the first FT4000 SWIFTPAC in Latin America. The gas turbine generator package is said to produce the highest output of any aeroderivative engine while maintaining high efficiency.
With more than 2,000 industrial gas turbines installed worldwide, the FT4000 engine is powered by a Pratt & Whitney PW4000 derivative gas generator. It offers a 60-to-120 MW package of peaking and base-load power in a compact footprint. The FT4000 engine is designed for simple-cycle, combined-cycle, or cogeneration applications. The free-turbine design of the system allows for flexible power plant operation down to 25% of full load, synchronous condensing operation without a clutch, and spinning reserve capacity. The unit will be in commercial operation in May 2015.
Power on the move
GE’s Distributed Power business is supplying Genesis Electricity’s driven project company, GEL Utility Limited, with three 25 MW, trailer-mounted, TM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbines to generate power at Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) state oil refinery at Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Grid outages have reduced PHRC’s output to 30% of its total maximum capacity of 210,000 barrels per day. The outages and other factors have forced Nigeria to import large volumes of refined petroleum products to meet its domestic needs. The TM2500+ gas turbines will provide both the baseload and backup power to support refinery operations. The three units will enter commercial operation in August 2014. GE's TM2500+ gas turbine is capable of providing ISO-rated 31 MW of on-site generating capacity.
Additionally, eight more trailer-mounted TM2500+ units have been ordered in Algeria. Energy demand in Algeria is estimated to be growing at an average annual rate of 14%, rising from about 12 GW to 24 GW by 2017. The government is investing in the energy sector to boost power generation capacity.
The projects mark the third order with GE’s TM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbines for subsidiaries of Algeria’s national electricity and gas company Sonelgaz and the first order for Jenbacher gas engines for an industrial plastic goods factory owned by Plastpaper.
Under the terms of a $161 million contract, GE’s Distributed Power business is supplying Sonelgaz with a fleet of eight TM2500+ units on an expedited basis for multiple locations near existing electrical substations. They can operate on either gas or liquid fuel and will supply electricity to support peak demands and to increase grid reliability. The contract includes related services, which GE will supply in combination with partner Power Projects Limited, the Turkish subsidiary of METKA S.A., a leading international engineering contractor.
Mexican plant
Mexican state-owned utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) has awarded Spanish contractor Acciona a contract for the extension of a diesel power plant at La Paz, Baja California Sur. The contract covers the installation of a MAN Diesel & Turbo B&W 12K80MC-S9 engine at the plant.
This is the fifth two-stroke B&W unit to be installed at the Baja California Sur plant. CFE’s La Paz plant already has a single 10K90MC-S and 3 × 12K80MC-S engines, offering a total output of 172.5 MW. At 47.88 MW, the newer 12K80MC-S9 version’s output will be 5 MW higher than its 12K80MC-S predecessor, while also possessing a lower heat rate.
GE gas turbine orders
Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, is facing an energy deficit of about 700 MW, which forces it to import power from neighboring states. That led to an order from TGK-16, an independent heat and electricity producer owned by Tatar-American Investment and Finance (TAIF). The system is based on GE’s 9HA.01 gas turbine and will be installed at a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Kazan.
Modernizing the CHP-3 plant will create a total plant efficiency of about 80%. GE will provide the turnkey solution with support from GAMA Power Systems on engineering and construction. GE’s air-cooled HA technology will operate on natural gas.
While using 30% less fuel, the 9HA system will replace existing gas-fired boilers and increase the CHP facility’s electrical production from 420 MW to 808 MW. GE will manufacture and assemble the equipment for CHP-3 at production facilities in France, the U.S. and Turkey. Commissioning of the plant is scheduled for the first quarter of 2017.
Ethylene plant turboexpander
L.A. Turbine has received an order for two magnetic bearing turboexpanders plus one spare mechanical center section (MCS) for installation at a U.S.-based ethylene processing facility. The active magnetic bearing (AMB) units with a common seal gas system are mounted on an L.A. Turbine L3000 single skid frame and perform two-stage ethylene processing within the plant. L.A. Turbine is also responsible for the commissioning of the equipment.
