Ansaldo Energia will deploy world’s first cutting-edge MXL3 upgrade at ENGIE Maxima Flevo power plant in the Netherlands
During spring 2023, in the frame of a scheduled major inspection, Ansaldo Energia will implement the first installation of the innovative MXL3 upgrade for GT26 gas turbines at Maxima-Flevo combined cycle power plant owned by ENGIE. With its unique increased performance, reduced CO2 footprint and H2 co-firing readiness, this upgrade will provide ENGIE with the best-in-class gas turbine technology to support the energy transition towards a carbon neutral economy.
Technological advances and unrivalled performance
This upgrade features latest H-class technology delivering up to 25 MW more gas turbine power output at an increased gas turbine efficiency in excess of 1.5%. Additionally, the maintenance interval will be extended to 40.000 Equivalent Operating Hours, confirming the same intervals of the well-established MXL2 Upgrade. The MXL3 upgrade grants to operators the full benefits of performance, best-in-class turndown ratio and high availability; moreover, it allows an extensive operational flexibility by switching between ‘performance’ optimized mode and ‘maintenance cost’ optimized mode depending on the market requirements.
All in all, MXL3 will boost the present maximum output of Maxima-Flevo 5 combined cycle generation unit with up to 35 MW and will make it the first F-Class gas turbine in Central West Europe reaching more than 60% efficiency.
Reduced CO2 footprint with H2 co-firing option
The increase in efficiency could result in up to 40.000 tons of CO2 savings on a yearly basis depending on the running profile. In addition, MXL3 technology promotes fuel flexibility and allows the co-firing of hydrogen up to 45% of volume flow, with no additional changes to the gas turbine hardware. In order to accelerate its role in the energy transition,ENGIE is evaluating opportunities to apply Ansaldo MXL3 technology to the GT26 of its European fleet.
With this state of the art and low carbon gas-fired power plants, ENGIE has the ambition to complement the full deployment of renewable energy while preparing its fleet to generate substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions in the longer term. This is fully in line with ENGIE’s commitment to reach its Net Zero Carbon objective by 2045 for all direct and indirect emissions.
Cedric Osterrieth, CEO of ENGIE GENERATION Europe: “By acting as a launching customer for the introduction of the cutting edge MXL3 upgrade at Maxima-Flevo power plant, ENGIE continues to be a first mover in the market. The collaboration with Ansaldo reinforces the important role of ENGIE best-in-class generation assets in the energy transition towards carbon-neutrality”.
Giuseppe Marino, CEO of Ansaldo Energia: “The implementation of the cutting edge H-Class technology into the existing F-Class units will enable our customers to keep up with an increasingly demanding energy market. This also prove the Ansaldo Energia commitment to support gas turbine fleet on the long term with all the new technology as soon as available. Even more, we are proud for the trust ENGIE places in Ansaldo Energia”.