GE announces new gas turbines designed to complement renewables

• 12 years ago (2012-09-29)
• Junior Isles

Asia 892 Europe 1089 Middle East 326 North America 1021 Renewables 776

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GE has announced a new line of gas-powered turbines specifically designed to be paired with renewable energy sources. The new FlexEfficiency 60 product line represents a new model for alternative-energy projects, with the company claiming it combines “record-breaking efficiency” and “flexibility” to cut carbon emissions and reduce costs compared to prior GE configurations.

GE predicts that the new technology would allow utilities to deliver power quickly, as it is needed by consumers, and to cut back the operation to balance a grid that also includes fluctuating renewables. GE has announced nearly $1.2 billion in new orders for FlexEfficiency 60 technology, set for projects in the USA, Saudi Arabia, and Japan.

The new turbines are targeted at markets where power is transmitted at a frequency of 60 Hz, which includes the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan and Saudi Arabia. A comparable 50 Hz version of the technology is already available for markets using that configuration, including the EU, China, Australia, and Africa.

The core of the FlexEfficiency 60 package is a Combined-Cycle Power Plant capable of exceeding 61 per cent thermal efficiency, and able to rapidly increase or decrease its power output in response to fluctuations in wind and solar power, making it an ideal complement to many government’s expanding renewable energy projects.

“This is a great milestone for our natural-gas portfolio. We stated a year ago that we would bring our FlexEfficiency technology to our customers in places such as the USA, Middle East, Japan and Brazil, and today we delivered,” said Steve Bolze, President and CEO of GE Power & Water. “We continue to invest in and build the broadest gas-fuelled power generation portfolio in the industry.”