General Electric Co. (GE) said Thursday that a power plant in Northern France will be the first equipped with its efficient new natural-gas turbine designed for use in conjunction with renewable energy-generation gear when it becomes operational in 2015.
General Electric Co. (GE) said Thursday that a power plant in
Northern
France
will be the first equipped with its efficient new natural-gas turbine
designed for use in conjunction with renewable energy-generation gear when it
becomes operational in 2015.
GE and French state-controlled utility group Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR)
are jointly developing the EUR400 million ($533 million) power plant, located
at Bouchain. GE, based in
Fairfield
,
Conn.
, will
own part of the 510-megawatt plant during a two-year demonstration period, but
EDF will buy all of it by 2017, the company said.
GE, which unveiled the new technology in May, has previously announced deals
for what it calls the FlexEfficiency 50 plants in
Turkey
,
Japan
and
China
. GE
said Thursday a plant in
Turkey
that
will be equipped with the technology likely will become operational late in
2015, shortly after the French plant.
The new turbines are based upon GE's jet-engine technology and are designed to
ramp up twice as fast as conventional turbines. GE has billed them as "key
enablers" for utilities looking to increase reliance on renewable energy
sources, such as wind or solar, because they can kick in quickly on still or
cloudy days and smooth out fluctuations in power generation.
They are also more efficient than conventional gas turbines, achieving greater
than 61% efficiency at base load, which the company has called a significant
improvement over 60% efficiency for conventional turbines.
A 1% increase in efficiency "doesn't sound like much, but it can drive a
lot of savings" on fuel costs, Paul Browning, president of GE Energy's
thermal products unit. He added that each 1% increase in efficiency reduces
emissions 2.5%.
EDF Chief Executive Henri Proglio called the technology "cutting
edge" in a prepared statement, adding that plans for the plant are "a
testimony to the current modernization of EDF's fossil-fired plants and the EDF
Group's commitment to innovation."
Meanwhile, Browning said a version of the new technology for the North American
market will be "coming soon," although he declined to provide a
precise forecast. The initial versions are designed for the European and Asian
power grids that operate at 50 hertz power frequency, compared to 60 hertz in
the
U.S.
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