New filtration technology for gas turbines developed by equipment manufacturer, Vokes Air, offers the potential for more efficient gas turbine operation,extending turbine efficiency by around 0.2%. “Macrogen GT Duo filters are a low cost and simple method of lowering the pressure loss of a turbine air intake with no retrofit required,” Tom Winsper, a spokesman for Vokes Air told Gas to Power Journal.
Günther Oettinger, the EU's energy commissioner, is keen to support a policy initiative promoting a coalition between renewables and gas power even though the Commission this week dropped mandatory renewable targets for member states, citing economic realities.
South Korean manufacturer Samsung Engineering has won a $441 million contract from BHP Billiton to design and build a gas-fired power plant in Chile. The new plant will produce electricity for a nearby copper mines in the Antofagasta region, generating 517MW of output. Construction works are scheduled to be complete in 2016.
Export credit financing of €160 million for two new gas-fired plants in Indonesia has been approved by Standard Chartered Bank, paving the way for Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä to begin construction. The bank signed two 12-year term loan facilities with PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the national electricity company of Indonesia.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Hitachi have agreed to collaborate on the distributed gas engine power generation systems business in China. To that end MHI will transfer to Hitachi 35% of its shares in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine System in Shenzhen, which conducts its Chinese engine and power generation business, then the company will be renamed and converted into a joint venture company by the end of 2014.
Abu Dhabi based energy company TAQA has announced plans to construct a new 300 MW gas-fired power plant at Takoradi in Ghana. The deal follows talks between TAQA and Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, that will also see the Middle Eastern firm supply LNG to fuel the plant.
GE has won a contract to supply six turnkey power modules, generating a total of 258MW, for the Upper Zakum UZ750 field in Abu Dhabi. The six “mega structures” will house a turbogenerator train that will provide electricity for pumps and gas compressors at oil production facilities operated by ZADCO, a subsidary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
Commissioning works have started at Centrax' largest installation of gas turbine packages at the Ust Teguss field in Siberia. Twelve packages, each based on a 5.2MW Rolls-Royce 501-KB7 gas turbine, will power Rosneft's oil and gas upstream operations in harsh weather conditions.
Spanish EPC company Iberdrola Ingeniería has commissioned GE to deliver a 9F gas turbine for the 300MW Lichterfelde combined-cycle combined heat and power (CHP) plant it construct on behalf of Vattenfall in Lichterfelde, southwest of Berlin. Construction works are on track for the plant to start-up in 2016.
RWE chief executive Peter Terium has brandmarked the economic situation for utilities in Europe as "miserable", underlining utilities expect policy makers to introduce "a functioning and fair market system" for both fossil and renewable energy sources.
French equipment manufacturer, Alstom has reduced its profitability forecast for this year due to limited demand for turbines to power new plants. Orders for thermal power dropped 16% to 5.4 billion in the first nine month in the 2013/2014 final year and though the company reported “good commercial activity in Services” it cautioned “orders for new builds remained very weak”.
Advanced manufacturing technologies are seen to have an unrivalled impact on the design of gas turbines and power plants. "In the future, we'll be able to achieve new levels of intricacy in parts using laser melting technology," forecast Willibald Fischer, Head of Product Management for Gas Turbines at Siemens.