GAS POWER Direct

Italian turbine maker Ansaldo Energia and carbon capture specialist Equinor are collaborating on the validation of a 100% hydrogen gas turbine combustor. Under an agreement announced on Oct. 24, Equinor (formerly Statoil) will co-fund tests that could show Ansaldo’s GT36 H-class gas turbine combustor can be operated purely with hydrogen. “The purpose of this collaboration […]

GE on Oct. 1 unveiled the 7HA.03, the newest model in its 2014-launched high efficiency air-cooled (HA) gas turbine line. On Oct. 2, it also announced that Florida Power and Light’s (FPL’s) Dania Beach Clean Energy Center will be the first to showcase two of the “world’s largest, most efficient, and flexible gas turbines” for the 60-Hz […]

August 14, 2019 Automated Plant Startups Reduce Fixed and Fuel-Related Costs State-of-the-art automation systems are common at power plants these days. Still, many plants start up units in a very manual way. When startups were rare, the implications were minimal, but as units cycle… Read More PG&E Asks Bankruptcy Judge to Back Restructured Power Deals […]

Today’s heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) are suffering reliability problems, mainly because they’re being operated in the cycling mode instead of the baseload mode for which they were designed. The good news is HRSG suppliers are adapting to the market demands and are designing the next generation of HRSGs to have cycling-friendly—also called fast-start—features. One […]

July marks two important milestones that set gas-fired generation on its course to becoming a dominant form of power generation: commercial operation of the world’s first industrial gas turbine in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 1939, and commercial operation of the first gas turbine in the U.S. used to generate electric power—a 3.5-MW General Electric (GE) unit […]

In the days following its May 7 announcement that it will spin off its Gas and Power business, Siemens has fleshed out how and when the carveout will occur, laid out its reasons for lumping its energy businesses together, and put forth a market case for why a business separation may be a “win-win” situation […]

Marc Yeston kicked off the Combustion Turbine Operations Technical Forum (CTOTF) spring conference on April 29 in St. Augustine, Florida, with a keynote presentation focused on safety, and how power plant managers and supervisors can improve safety programs. Yeston (Figure 1) has worked as a flight paramedic, a federal and state law enforcement officer, a […]

In a significant technical triumph, GE has completed first installation of a new gas-fired power plant technology that it says can reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions to 5 parts per million (ppm).  GE on April 11 completed combustion upgrades on nine GE 9E gas turbines at five power generation enterprises in Shenzen, a major industrial […]

GE introduced its GT26 HE (high efficiency) gas turbine upgrade on March 25 by announcing Uniper would be the first to install the new technology at the company’s Enfield Power Station in London, England. “We’re proud to launch our new GT26 HE upgrade with Uniper—it’s the most advanced solution we’ve ever introduced on a GT26 […]

When U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), he unintentionally ignited the worldwide deregulation of electricity markets, which in turn began a worldwide technology race between two distinct types of power plants: the newly created, industrial-scale plant that PURPA dubbed “cogeneration” and the traditional, utility-scale power […]

January 24, 2019 ‘Technically Sophisticated’ Combined Cycle Plant Comes Online The Lackawanna Energy Center in Pennsylvania entered commercial operation Jan. 15, with the $1.5 billion project heralded by its developer, Invenergy, as among the most “technically sophisticated” combined cycle natural… Read More Sponsored Content On February 19-21, the 3rd Annual Connected Plant Conference will include […]

Conferences and exhibitions are a valuable way for power professionals to share ideas and network, gain up-to-date training, further education, understand regulatory or policy changes, and access the latest products and technologies. POWER‘s editors compiled this helpful list of events in 2019 that cater to the power industry.  FEBRUARY ARC Industry Forum February 4-7 Orlando, […]

December 19, 2018 Siemens Cutting 200 Jobs at Texas Service Center Siemens said it would lay off about 200 workers at a gas turbines parts and components service center in Houston, Texas, sometime in late 2019 or early… Read More Sponsored Content GE's H-class turbines help create a stable grid with more renewables The HA […]

Lead analyst Stephen Tusa lowered J.P. Morgan’s rating on GE stock after “checks on two initial U.S. installations revealed failures of the first stage blade of GE’s H-frame gas turbine,” thestreet.com reported on September 20. Tusa—who has long been critical of GE’s prospects—reportedly wrote, “The impact on ‘asset value’ from a failure at GE’s U.S. […]

September 19, 2018 Select Boiler Chemistry in the Design Phase of Project Life On many combined cycle projects, the major decisions about boiler chemistry are left until after the plant has been designed, equipment is procured, and construction is well underway. However, the… Read More Sponsored Content GE’s H-class turbines are fueling the world on […]

Energy industry experts speaking at the MEGA Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 21 agreed that storage is becoming more important to the overall mix of U.S. power sources. They also said utility-scale storage solutions remain “years away,” even as technology advancements in battery systems occur more rapidly. Panelists at the session entitled “The Transformation […]

The Trump administration has proposed an overhaul of U.S. power plant emissions rules, unveiling a plan that would allow individual states to determine how they will regulate pollutants. The proposal, called the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) plan and discussed during the keynote address at the MEGA Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 21, would essentially dissolve […]

It is safe to say that every power plant in the world uses scaffolding in some way, shape, or form. It is a critical component for many maintenance activities where permanently installed access is not possible or practical. Therefore, the dangers associated with scaffolding should not be overlooked by the industry. Often, plant maintenance personnel […]

For a decade or more, heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) users have heard that Grade-91 tubing (T-91) is susceptible to microstructure damage from improper heat treatment. Now, a new damage mechanism in T-91 tubing has been identified, which HRSG users heard about at the February 2018 HRSG User’s Group Conference. During the discussion on heat […]

NRG Energy will not restart its Dunkirk power plant in western New York, with the company on July 11 saying the cost to reconnect the facility to the state’s electric grid prohibits reopening the retired coal-fired plant as a natural gas-fueled facility. David Gaier, an NRG spokesman, told POWER the project’s increased costs, along with needed […]

There are often multiple closed-loop water cooling systems installed in a power plant. Chances are good that they cool or control temperature on some very critical components. It can be easy to ignore these systems because they are usually quite reliable. By its very nature, when a closed-loop system remains closed and operates properly for an extended period of time, it is often […]

Siemens and General Electric, two rivals battling financial problems due to fewer orders for their flagship energy products and services, could each announce major restructuring moves in the coming weeks, according to media reports. Reuters on June 21, citing a person familiar with the matter, said Siemens plans to merge or trim some of its […]

President Trump wants to provide financial support to struggling coal and nuclear power plants. He’s told the Department of Energy (DOE) to make it happen. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, along with commissioners from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), made it clear June 12 they don’t support federal government intervention […]

General Electric’s (GE’s) power unit has said it will end manufacturing operations at its plant in Salem, Virginia, next year, with more than 260 workers losing their jobs, according to union officials. Officials noted that 42% of the affected workers are eligible for retirement. The plan announced June 8 said the Salem plant, which opened […]

NTE Energy on May 21 inaugurated the new Middletown Energy Center in Middletown, Ohio, the latest in a series of natural gas-fired power plants the Florida-based company is developing in Ohio, Texas, and North and South Carolina. NTE touts the 525-MW Middletown combined cycle facility as among the most efficient gas-fired power plants in the […]

NextEra Energy on May 21 said it would acquire several assets from Southern Co., including Southern’s ownership interest in two natural gas-fired power plants in Florida, in a deal valued at about $6.5 billion. Southern in a statement Monday said the sale would help the company reduce debt, which has dogged Southern as its subsidiary […]

May 16, 2018 The Best Place to Sample HRSG Tubes Finding the best place to sample heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) tubes isn’t as hard as finding a needle in a haystack (but it’s like that). Ask most HRSG users… Read More GE Sets Sights on MHPS and Siemens Customers Drawing on decades of gas […]

Finding the best place to sample heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) tubes isn’t as hard as finding a needle in a haystack (but it’s like that). Ask most HRSG users where they take their routine tube samples for monitoring under-deposit corrosion in the high-pressure evaporator, and they’ll tell you, “first row, because it’s the hottest […]

Drawing on decades of gas turbine experience, GE’s Power Services business announced on May 16 that it is expanding its cross-fleet service offerings to a broader portion of the F-class market, including Siemens’ SGT6-5000F and SGT-800 models, and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems’ (MHPS’s) 501F technology. “GE is proven as one of the technology leaders and […]

GE will buy Alstom’s stakes in three energy joint ventures (JVs) the companies formed when GE acquired Alstom’s energy business nearly three years ago. Alstom and GE on May 4 signed an agreement that essentially sets out a plan for Alstom to exercise put options on JVs it formed with GE pertaining to their renewables […]