Turbine May Top 60% Thermal Efficiency

A General Electric Power Systems 480 mWh series turbine, to be installed in Southern Wales this summer, may be the first combined-cycle turbine to achieve 60% thermal efficiency.

The significance of this achievement is that each percentage point of efficiency gained can translate to savings of $15 million to $20 million in life-long operational costs for a typical, gas-fired combined-cycle plant of this size, according to GE.

The Wales turbine will provide steam and electricity to commercial and industrial facilities under development at the Baglan Bay Energy Park, with energy to spare for the U.K. electricity market. Two more H turbines are slated to be installed in Scriba, N.Y., and Tokyo, Japan later this year.

Developed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Turbine System program, the turbine is unique in that it uses steam, instead of air, to cool first-stage and second-stage nozzles and buckets.

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