Siemens completes 834MW Ansan combined cycle plant

Siemens and its partner South Korean POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (POSCO E&C), an affiliate of POSCO steel company, completed the Ansan combined cycle power plant in 24 months, from groundbreaking to first commercial operation date (COD). It is the fourth Siemens H-class-based combined-cycle power plant in commercial operation in Asia with an efficiency level of more than 60 percent.

The Ansan CHP is located in the city of the same name in Gyeonggi-do province southwest of the capital Seoul. This liquefied natural gas (LNG) fired plant is the first H-class 2 +1 multi-shaft power plant in Korea and has an electrical capacity of 834 MW. Siemens delivered the power island main equipment: two gas turbines of type SGT6-8000H, an SST6-5000 steam turbine, three hydrogen-cooled generators of type SGen6-2000H, and two heat recovery steam generators from BHI, South Korea, as well as the entire instrumentation and control technology, SPPA-T3000. Siemens will also supply the long-term service for the gas turbines.

Lowest NOx emissions

In addition to generating electricity, the plant will provide district heating for the inhabitants of the city of Ansan. Combined heat and power production raises the overall fuel utilization factor to over 75 percent. Its NOx emissions of 7 ppm are the lowest in Korea. This makes the plant one of the most efficient and eco-friendly fossil-fuel-fired electricity generating plants in South Korea. The owner and operator of the plant is S-Power, headquartered in Ansan.

Lothar Balling, head of the Business Unit Project Management Energy Solutions in the Siemens Energy Power Generation Division said, “We are making an important contribution towards cost-efficient and environmentally friendly power supply in the Gyeonggi-do province at the right time to support the winter peak.”

Sung-Taek Seo, POSCO E&C's Project Manager said Ansan CHP Project was developed by POSCO E&C, reflecting the long term electric power supply plans of the Korean Government. Further emphasis was put into selecting the most environmentally suitable technologies with the local environmental authorities of Ansan City in a process covering a period of two years. “We selected the Siemens H-Class gas turbine technology and Siemens in-house basic engineering and project management capabilities in order to construct one of the most competitive power plants in Korea. As the results have shown, the Ansan power plant and the partnership with Siemens have proven to be a great success and a benchmark in the IPP market."

Siemens has now sold fifteen SGT6-8000H gas turbines to South Korea for eight projects totaling over 6.3 GW installed CCPP capacity. Four H-class projects have been completed while four projects are still under construction. They are scheduled to commence operation in 2015 and 2017.