Greentech Lead America: GE will upgrade two GE gas
turbines with an advanced technology at a Progress Energy power plant in the
Smith Energy Complex. The upgrade will help the site continue meeting growing
energy demands through increased output, greater efficiency and lower emissions.
GE will upgrade two GE Frame 7FA Gas Turbines, which have
been operating on natural gas since 2002, with compressor and combustion system
enhancements as well as GE’s new Advanced Gas Path solution.
This enhancement will improve the site’s output by 16 MW
and fuel efficiency by more than 1 percent. GE expects the upgrades to extend
the plant’s parts life and increase the time between scheduled outages.
“This project has been a close collaboration between
Progress Energy and GE to identify a solution that will deliver higher levels
of performance to the Richmond County site without sacrificing operational
flexibility or reliability,” said James A. Kaveney, general manager of GE
Energy’s Power Generation Services Americas group.
The site’s upgrade package also includes dry low NOx (DLN)
combustion technology designed to lower emissions while saving water.
GE also will install an Enhanced Transient Stability
application at the Smith Energy Complex. This advanced controls solution will
help protect the plant against grid instability.
The enhancement project is scheduled to be completed by
October 2012.
Recently, GE announced
that its Jenbacher gas engines will drive landfill gas (LFG) power generation
project of Laogang Renewable Energy.