GE moving fast to repower Japan post Tsunami

The lights are coming back on in Tokyo, thanks in part to the extremely fast installation of GE gas turbines which are plugging the energy gap left by the closure of the Fukishima nuclear plant.

Speaking at a PowerGen Asia press event to announced a strategic MOU with Toshiba which will see the latter use GE Gas turbines in its combined cycle plants in Japan and beyond, GE’s CEO and President of Thermal Products Paul F. Browning outlined how the US giant had pulled out all the stops to get gas turbines up and running quickly to meet the energy demand.

In the day following the Japanese Tsunami, says Browning, the GE Team met to discuss ways they could get Japan repowered quickly. The first solution was to suggest using jet engines usually seen in the aerospace division . But by installing and connecting ten of GE’s LM2500 units, which together could produce 250MW or enough for a small power plant, GE was able to deliver new power with 90 days of the Tsunami. These engines were originally designed to power wide bodied aircraft such as the Boeing 707 but havd a new lease of life as aero-derivitives. A lot of these are installed in remote locations such as mines in Ausrralia and LNG plants. In Japan they were loaded onto soviet transorters known as Antonov’s and flown to Japan. Less romantically, some came by ship.
 

Just a few months after that the company also delivered and installed a 6FA 120 MW unit. As a follow up, the heavier turbines, which are marketed for untilities by GE’s Thermal Products group moved in and will have installed a further two 9FA gas turbines which can produce 250 MW each just in time for peak summer demand next year.
Normally this process would take at least 2 years, but Browning says GE will have it done within 17 months. Going forward he sees a lot of potential for the company’s new “FlexEffeciencey” 250 MW units known as GE Frame 9FB Gas Turbines. It is these the company is hoping to sell in big numbers in Japan and beyond through its non-exclusive tie up with Toshiba. So what’s the big differnece between these new units and the older ones ?
 

According to Browing the new engines are 61 % efficient as part of a combined cycle plant which is 1.5 % better than anything GE has offereed before. “The other big difference is the time to start – we can start it in 28 minutes compared to 50 minutes previously, and we can ramp at 51MW per minute – previously 35MW per minute –a 50 % increase, and we can turn down the plant to 40 % of full load and previously that was 50 % f full load. All of those are industry leading numbers. “
 

Browing adds that this brings the total of 9FB.05 engines to 5 units – 2 in China with Harbin Electric and 2 in Japan with Toshiba