GE announces 30,000 operating hours for HA gas turbines

September 15, 2017 | 15:05
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GE announced that its fleet of HA gas turbines has achieved 30,000 combined operating hours and net efficiency of nearly 64 per cent just over a year after the first combined-cycle power plant equipped with GE’s HA turbine in France's Bouchain came into operation.
GE announces 30,000 operating hours for HA gas turbines
GE was responsible for the lion's share of the sales of large gas turbine sales in the past year

The company said 30,000 hours is an equivalent of running at base-load for over 3.5 years, which exceeds the industry standard 8,000-hour requirement for measuring gas turbine reliability. The HA fleet has achieved 99.5 per cent reliability and 98.1 per cent availability—well within the norms of a mature fleet and a very strong showing for a new product launch.

At launching time, GE also announced that the company has been recognised by Guinness World Records for powering the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plant with an achieved efficiency rate of up to 62.22 per cent at the Bouchain plant.

“Something we are really proud of as a business is setting the world record for efficiency at 62.22 per cent. We have a clear path to 65 per cent and we are confident today at quoting 64 per cent,” said Joe Mastrangelo, president and chief executive officer of Gas Power Systems.

Getting to 65 per cent efficiency will be possible by improving cooling and sealing technologies as well as by improving materials and coatings to help increase exhaustion temperatures.

The H-class is the fastest-growing fleet of gas turbines in the world, with nearly 70 orders and 37 shipments since the turbines were launched in late 2014. Today, 10 HA units are in operation in four different countries.

Additionally, according to McCoy Reports, the company was behind 72 per cent of all gas turbine sales over 30 megawatts/unit in the second quarter of 2017. For the first half of the year, GE sales of large gas turbines reached 56 per cent. Over the last year, GE has extended the company’s global reach to more than 16 countries, including the US, Brazil, Japan, Bahrain, China, and many others, and continues to be the industry leader in gas turbine orders.

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