Environment & Energy | Sunday 6 October, 2019 12:40 pm |

Access to affordable, reliable, flexible, and sustainable electricity is critical to growing economies and is fundamental to quality of life in the modern world. Helping to meet this growing need, GE (NYSE: GE) has launched the latest evolution of its HA gas turbine, the 7HA.03. GE has also achieved a milestone with MYTILINEOS S.A., a leading Greek industrial company, which placed an order for the GE 9HA.02 gas turbine to be the heart of one of the largest natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants in Europe at the Agios Nikolaos Power Plant in Greece. This marks the 100th unit of GE’s HA gas turbine ordered, the world’s fastest growing fleet of gas turbines.

 

GE’s HA technology is gaining increasing popularity in the Middle East as well. Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) in the UAE will use three HA units to power its upcoming 1.8 gigawatts (GW) combined cycle power plant located in Hamriyah. The flagship project is expected to be the most efficient power plant in the Middle East’s utilities sector upon completion. Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) is deploying three GE HA gas turbines to power the world’s largest single-site smelter. The high operational flexibility offered by the technology, which can ramp power production up and down quickly, can also help to enhance grid stability in countries such as Saudi Arabia that has set aggressive targets to add more supplies of intermittent renewable power to their energy mix.

 

“Our HA’s popularity and operational momentum for customers around the world is something GE is very proud of, and we are thrilled to introduce the next industry leader for 60-hertz locations,” said Scott Strazik, CEO of GE’s Gas Power business. “We look forward to providing power plant operators globally with the benefits of this incredible turbine.”

 

Retaining a common architecture and heritage of GE’s HA gas turbine platform, the 7HA.03 is a step forward for the industry as the world’s largest, most-efficient, highest-capacity 60-hertz gas turbine with industry-leading flexibility and the lowest cost of conversion for gas to electricity. The 7HA.03 provides greater capacity and efficiency: offering 134 more megawatts than GE’s 7HA.02 gas turbine (2x1 CC). The new 7HA.03 will power Florida Power & Light Company’s (FPL) Dania Beach Clean Energy Center near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 7HA.03 offers substantial improvements in three key areas: greater capacity and performance, enhanced flexibility, and lower capital costs and installation time.

 

Today, GE’s HA gas turbines have achieved several notable milestones: the 40 HA units in commercial operation across the globe have achieved more than 415,000 operating hours, supplying more than 18 GW of power, or the equivalent electricity needed to power more than 13.5 million US homes. GE has secured the orders for its HA units from 40 customers across more than 18 countries. The HA turbine has also been recognized for powering the world’s most efficient power plants in both the 50-hertz and 60-hertz energy segments.