Features. . Gas Turbines: Siemens G-Class technology builds for the future

• Published in: Power Vol. 151; no. 6; p. 42
• Main Author: Peltier, Robert
• Format: Magazine Article Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York TradeFair Group Publications Ltd 01.06.2007
• Subjects: Air flow; Coal-fired power plants; Cooling; Design; Efficiency; Electric utilities; Gas turbine engines; Gas turbines; Gasoline prices; Industrial plant emissions; Natural gas prices; Power plants; Product design; Thrust bearings; Turbines; Germany
• ISSN: 0032-5929; 1936-7791

In the mid-1990s, most industry pundits believed that the replacement of aging coal plants by high-efficiency combined-cycle plants was inevitable. For some developers of combined-cycle plants, deregulation created a perfect storm that required fast construction of large, low-emission, quick-starting baseload plants. Many developers made their fortunes in those early years. Ten years later, the best project sites had been taken and regional overcapacity of gas-fired plants had reached a tipping point, so the less well-financed developers began a slow slide into bankruptcy. With 20/20 hindsight, it now seems obvious that many projects were based on overoptimistic predictions of stable natural gas prices and relied on an infrastructure not designed for dispersed delivery of large quantities of gas. But the price of natural gas, which was less than $2/mmBtu throughout the 1990s, skyrocketed to $5 by 2003 and to $8 by 2005. Merchant plants built a decade ago cannot meet their pro formas when gas prices quadruple. Siemens Power Generation (SPG) designed the 270-MW-class SGT6-6000G gas turbine to meet the demand criteria of the 1990s.