New output thresholds for the Siemens HL

Siemens has received an order for the first 50-Hz unit of the SGT-9000HL type, which will be delivered to the Scottish energy company SSE plc for the new gas-fired power station Keadby 2 in Lincolnshire, U.K.

Since the official launch in 2017, Siemens’ new HL-class components and technologies have accumulated more hours in unit testing decoupled from the grid at the Siemens test facility in Berlin, Germany. At the same time, rig testing is ongoing at the Siemens Clean Energy Center near Berlin and other locations around the world.

These further investigations have allowed Siemens to confirm new increased performances for the turbines in the range; in particular, new power outputs have been reported: 481 MW for the 50-Hz SGT5-8000HL (and 708 MW for combined cycle 1×1 operation); 567 MW for the SGT-9000HL in the 50-Hz version and 388 MW for the 60-Hz version (841 and 577 MW for combined cycle 1×1 operation respectively).

The 63% efficiency mark in combined cycle operation is confirmed but Siemens also maintained that this threshold is going to increase further for these air-cooled four stage turbine models.

Kolja Schwarz, Siemens’ head of HL-class portfolio management, explained that the very first order for the HL-class turbines, a 60-Hz version of the SGT-9000HL, for the Duke Energy’s Lincoln County Combustion Turbine site in the USA is expected to be ready for an extensive test and validation program starting in 2020. The testing program contains also long-term validation in commercial operation, in accordance with the customer, and will be Siemens’ main platform to assess new technologies aiming at reaching and breaking the next efficiency level.