Power Magazine
Date: Sep 5, 2020
By: Sonal Patel
General Electric International Inc. (GE) and consortium partner Taiwanese engineering services firm CTCI have bagged a multi-billion-dollar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for five combined cycle gas-fired power units in Taiwan.
The consortium will build three new units at the 3.9-GW Hsinta Power Plant and two new units at the 2.6-GW Taichung Power Plant. The two plants owned by state-owned utility Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) are slated to come online in phases, starting in 2024.
Power Plants Based on HA Technology
As part of the project scope, GE Gas Power will deploy 10 7HA.03 gas turbines—the newest model in its 2014-launched high-efficiency air-cooled (HA) gas turbine line—as well as five steam turbine, 15 generators, and 10 heat recovery steam generators. CTCI will provide engineering and construction of civil work and erection for the generating units, as well as the balance of plant.
GE said the award will become an order “following contract closure and payment, which is expected within six months.” The win is a big one for the U.S.-based conglomerate, which has seen demand for large gas turbines decline as competition in the gas turbine sector grows more intense. In the first half of 2020, the company recorded only eight orders for heavy-duty gas turbines, compared to 27 for the same period in 2019. Its HA-turbine orders also fell to just two turbines in the first half, compared to 10 for the same period in 2019.
GE told POWER when it unveiled the 7HA.03 last year that the new model has a single-cycle net output of 430 MW—a sizable boost compared to its forerunner, the 7HA.02, which is rated at 384 MW, and the first-generation gas turbine in the HA class, the 7HA.01, which is rated at 290 MW. In combined cycle, a 1×1 7HA.03 plant can offer 640 MW, and in a 2×1 configuration, rated output reaches 1,282 MW. Like previous HA models, the 7HA.03 features a 10-minute start-up, but it remarkably intensifies the ramp rate to 75 MW per minute. [FULL STORY]
