Top Plant: Adapazari Power Plant, Adapazari, Sakarya Province, Turkey

Owner/operator: ENKA Power
In 2010, the 2,310-MW Adapazari Power Plant achieved 99.8% availability, which is nearly 7% higher than the industry average and a global record in F-class gas turbine technology. The new turbine upgrade is helping ENKA Power bolster Turkey’s evolving economy by improving its energy sector’s efficiency and productivity.

Courtesy: GE Energy

The days of the Ottoman Empire are long gone. But the strong tradition of striving for global leadership and economic success remain in modern Turkey. A recent example of a major Turkish accomplishment in the electric power sector is the world availability record set by the natural gas–fired Adapazari Power Plant.

Over the 12-month period ending November 2010, using F-class gas turbines manufactured and upgraded by GE (Figure 1), ENKA Power’s Adapazari combined cycle plant achieved 99.8% availability, which is the measurement of the actual time a generating unit is able to provide services, if required. This availability level is nearly seven percentage points higher than the industry average and a global record in F-class gas turbine technology. The increased availability allowed ENKA to generate an additional 1.3 million MWh of electricity, enough for 300,000 households.

1. Availability achievement. The GE Frame 9FA+ gas turbine is shown during a recent planned maintenance event at ENKA’s Adapazari Power Plant. By using F-class gas turbines manufactured and upgraded by GE, Turkish company ENKA set a new standard for global power plant availability over the 12-month period ending November 2010. The Adapazari plant achieved 99.8% availability, nearly seven percentage points higher than the industry average, and a global record in F-class gas turbine technology. Courtesy: GE Energy

ENKA has continuously achieved above-industry total plant availability and generated 130 million MWh of electricity at the Adapazari plant since its commissioning in 2002. This achievement is the result of an average 97.1% gas turbine availability for eight years of operation, including all planned and unplanned shutdowns.

Turkish Electric Power Industry

With a population of more than 78 million, Turkey has an economy that is increasingly driven by its industrial and service sectors, although its traditional agricultural sector still accounts for about 30% of employment, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook. An aggressive privatization program has reduced state involvement in basic industry, banking, transport, energy, and communication, and an emerging group of middle-class entrepreneurs is adding dynamism to the economy. Turkey’s traditional textiles and clothing sectors still account for one-third of industrial employment, despite stiff competition in international markets that resulted from the end of the global quota system. Other sectors, notably the automotive, construction, and electronics industries, are rising in importance and have surpassed textiles in Turkey’s export mix.
Increasing the efficiency of Turkey’s electricity production is a cornerstone of the government’s plans for future economic growth and related societal improvements. Turkey’s annual gross electric production is approximately 210,000 GWh and its consumption is about 209,000 GWh (2010 estimates). The country exports approximately 1,100 GWh and imports about 800 GWh (2010 estimates).

Successful Efficiency Upgrade

ENKA worked with GE Energy in 2008 and 2009 to implement an efficiency improvement upgrade called “Cooling Optimization Package (COP)” on the GE Frame 9FA gas turbines operating at both the Adapazari Power Plant, which began commercial operations in 2002, and the Izmir Power Plant. As a result of the COP implementation, the gas turbine output increased by 2% and average combined cycle efficiency reached 55.7%.

The average global availability level for all F-class gas turbines over the past three years was around 92%, according to operational range assessment plan data. The reported availability of GE’s F-class gas turbine is one percentage point higher than the industry average, at 93%.

“These record levels of availability and generation are the result of the dedicated operations and maintenance (O&M) team, constant and careful monitoring of plant operations, and full coordination and cooperation with the GE Energy Services team,” said Tahsin Kosem, O&M director for ENKA’s Adapazarı, Gebze (a subplant located within the Adapazari plant confines), and Izmir generating stations. “This upgrade is a great example of a manufacturer and a plant owner combining efforts to complete the upgrade package and installation in a very short time.”

The Adapazari plant has been delivering power to the Turkish grid continuously at an average of 97.1% availability for the past eight years.

The GE gas turbines at all of ENKA’s plants at Adapazari and Izmir—operate under a GE 16-year contractual service agreement. ENKA is the largest private electricity producer in Turkey and supplies, on average, 15% of the country’s electricity with its two gas-fired power plants located in or near the cities of Adapazari and Izmir. As of December 2010, ENKA had generated a total of 220 GWh in Turkey since 2002.

“GE continues to make significant investments in service technologies, such as those implemented for ENKA, which are designed to maximize power plant efficiency, availability, and overall performance,” said Yavuz Aydin, account director for GE Energy Services in Turkey and Israel.

Overview of the Plant

The Adapazari Power Plant is located in northwestern Turkey. The city of Adapazari is the capital of the Sakarya Province and has a population of more than 560,000.

The InterGen-ENKA partnership was awarded the right to build and operate the Adapazarı Power Plant with a nominal capacity of 2,331 MW following a build own operate (BOO) tender in 1997. In addition, the partnership under the BOO tender was awarded the right to build the Izmir Power Plant with a nominal capacity of 1,523 MW.

The Bechtel-ENKA Joint Venture was the turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for these power plants. Following a successful development and construction period, the Adapazarı plant started commercial operation in October 2002. In 2005, ENKA acquired Intergen shares and thereby attained full ownership of the plant.

The natural gas–fired combined cycle power plant has three power islands. Each consists of two combustion turbines/generators, two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs), and one steam turbine/generator (STG).
The Adapazari plant’s six GE Frame 9FA+ gas turbines have the following features:

• A gross capacity (ISO) of 256 MW
• A step-up transformer rating of 295 MVA
• A combustion chamber temperature of 1,327C (2,421F)
• An exhaust temperature of 610C
• An exhaust flue gas flow of 2,300,000 kg/h (5,070,632 lb/h)
• A net heat rate of 9,250 Btu/kWh
• An efficiency rate of 36.04%

The plant’s HRSGs, which have a stack height of 80 meters (262.46 feet), were manufactured by CMI, a Belgium company. The three-pressure-level STGs were manufactured by ABB-Alstom, and each has a gross capacity of 279 MW.

The facility’s main cooling system is a dry type with natural air circulation. EGI, a Hungarian company, manufactured the system. It has a cooling water flow rate of 30,800 tons/hour. The cooling tower is 135 meters high and has a maximum diameter of 115 meters.

Plant Personnel

Since the start of commercial operation, the all-Turkish ENKA O&M team has carried out all of the O&M duties at the Adapazari plant. The team includes managers, engineers, technicians, and administration personnel.

Safety is a high priority for the Adapazari O&M team. From the plant’s start of commercial operation in October 2002 through March 2011, the days without a lost-time incident (LTI) were 3,154 and the man-hours without an LTI were 5,747,958. These statistics include work performed by outside contractors.

Currently, the health, safety, and environmental management team at the plant is in compliance with the international standards for environmental management (ISO 14001 series) and health and safety management (OHSAS 18001 series), as published by the International Standards Organization. â– 

—Angela Neville, JD, is POWER’s senior editor.