Baglan Bay begins

It’s been 12 years from drawing

board to commercial operation,
but GE’s revolutionary H System gas
turbine is now up and running at a
combined-cycle plant in Wales.
The 510MW has H System integration and perfor-
James Luckey visits Baglan Bay. Baglan Bay power
station in Port
mance responsibility, and will design and
manufacture the H gas turbines and
Talbot, Wales.
supply the integrated systems controls for

W
ithout doubt, the 9H is the most currently comprises approximately 200 the power train. Toshiba will manufacture
carefully designed, engineered, acres of development land and will the GE-designed compressors, along with
tested and validated gas turbine feature business and manufacturing facili- Toshiba-designed generators and steam
in power generation history. ties. The Baglan Bay redevelopment is the turbines.
Its specifications also make it the largest single such site in the UK and is A full speed, no-load test was carried
largest, most powerful and efficient such made up of several phases, to be devel- out in 1998 at GE’s Greenville, South
machine in the world. Using the 50Hz 9H oped over the next 20 years. Carolina facility, and the first Frame 9H
or 60Hz 7H turbine, GE’s H System The availability of clean, low-cost gas turbine left that factory bound for the
combined-cycle configuration is the first power is expected to play a significant role Baglan Bay site in December 2000.
capable of breaking the 60 per cent in attracting new businesses to the park. Characterisation testing of the 9H
thermal efficiency barrier. The turbine With the power plant’s proximity and began in November last year, and was
was more than a decade in the making; it high efficiency, businesses in the Energy completed in May. Following a planned
finally saw its commercial launch in Park can potentially benefit from up to a outage for instrumented component
September at Baglan Bay power plant in 30 per cent saving in electrical costs. replacement, the plant was re-started to
the UK (see sidebar page 12). begin the commissioning process. It is
The higher thermal efficiency of the H Development programme already a world-beater. “During testing,
System will translate into lower gener- The energy source behind the Park the H System produced 530MW of elec-
ating costs and less plant emissions. GE started many years before however. GE tricity for the UK grid, which we believe is
estimates that a natural gas-fired CCGT engineers produced the H System a world record for single shaft
plant using the technology has the capa- concept in 1991. It took four years
bility of realising fuel cost savings of US$2 refining the turbine technology before a
million a year, compared to existing development programme was announced
combined-cycle plant, which operate in in 1995.
the range of 57-58 per cent at best. This was done as part of the US
The $500m Baglan Bay power station, Department of Energy’s Advanced
is built on land leased from BP Chemicals, Turbine System programme, and included
and provides electricity and process steam GE Aircraft Engines and the company’s
to the adjacent Baglan Energy Park and Global Research Centre. Two years later
BP’s isopropanol plant. Remaining elec- the compressor was tested and the first set
tricity goes to the UK national grid. of single crystal airfoils produced.
Baglan Energy Park is a joint develop- Future shipments for the H System will
ment between BP, Neath Port Talbot be covered under a previously announced
County Borough Council and the Welsh agreement signed by GE and Toshiba of
Development Agency. The Energy Park Japan in 1998. Under this agreement, GE

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 H System Gas Turbine

combined-cycle power generation,” says around the world. It produces more than
Mark Little, vice-president, Energy
Products at GEPS. That recorded output
was achieved at site conditions of 7°C,
a million horsepower alone and is the key
energy source for the entire plant,
including the power turbine, HRSG and
The cogeneration plant
even on a warmer day, the H still steam turbine. he CHP station at Baglan provides steam and elec-
produced in excess of 500MW.
The H System integrates gas and steam
But the revolution so far as gas turbine
design is concerned is the firing tempera-
T tricity to a BP Chemicals process plant, situated
close by.
turbine (single-shaft configuration at ture and cooling system. The 60 per cent In terms of configuration, the plant is powered by a
Baglan Bay), repressure heat recovery plant thermal efficiency is made possible GE LM2500 aero-derivative gas turbine, with a bypass
steam generator (HRSG) and 660MVA by an increase in gas turbine firing stack and a heat recovery steam generator on the back
liquid-cooled generator into one unit, temperature of more than 212°F (100°C) end; this is also connected up to a three flue common
optimising each component’s perfor- above the most efficient combined-cycle chimney (for the LM and 9H). “The third flue is for the
mance. The steam turbine is a D10 three- systems currently operating, including auxiliary boiler, which provides redundancy for the
pressure reheat, single-flow exhaust GE’s own F-technology. Current process steam that is supplied to BP,” says Brian Ray,
machine, co-manufactured with Toshiba. combined-cycle systems achieve a firing managing director of Baglan Generating Ltd.
Baglan Bay also uses a ten cell cooling temperature at the gas turbine inlet of The LM2500 also provides the Baglan Bay Power
tower with low plume, and has its own around 1,300°C; the new H System Station (including the H System) with black start capa-
2MW diesel generator for black start increases that to 1,430°C (2,606°F). bility, so it has its own diesel generator. “Power from the
capability, also used by the CHP plant. This higher firing temperature is made CHP plant is provided not only to BP Chemicals but
The 9H transformer is 22kV, stepped up possible by a series of technological also to the surrounding Baglan Energy Park,” says Ray.
to 275kV for transmission to the UK advances including the world’s largest “There is still room for expansion; there are a few
national grid. single crystal airfoils, superior component tenants already in the Energy Park and some more on
In addition to the H System, the power and coating materials, and an advanced the way, but at present it’s not fully populated.”
station also includes a 33MW combined closed-loop steam cooling system. The CHP plant also provides process cooling for BP
heat and power plant based on a GE “It is conditions friendly because the Chemicals, so there is a separate two cell cooling tower
LM2500 gas turbine (see right sidebar). steam cooling in the H System allows the for that purpose. In addition, an attemperated feedwater
combustion system of the engine to run line also gives BP that product along with demineralised
World’s largest turbine essentially at the same temperatures as water from the site’s water treatment plant.
But it is the gas turbine represents the our current F-technology,” says Jon
heart and focus of the project. The 50Hz Ebacher, vice president of power systems
480MW-rated Frame 9H gas turbine technology at GEPS. “While the turbine through the first stationary airfoil (stage 1
measures 12 metres long, five meters in inlet is 110°C above that and this is the nozzle segment). The firing temperature –
diameter; and weighing 370 metric section that produces power in the gas the flow stream temperature at the inlet
tonnes – it is the largest gas turbine in the turbine.” to the first rotational state (stage 1 blade)
world. Much of the H design is based on Use of single crystal materials on the – establishes the power output. The differ-
proven turbine technology. first stage nozzles and blades plus the ence between firing temperature and
The compressor system is derivative of special coatings used ensures that the combustion temperature entering the first
GE’s Aircraft Engine business, the CF6- parts can withstand the high tempera- stage nozzle is the temperature drop
80C2 engine (and its aero-derivative tures – temperatures that are significantly across the stage 1 nozzle.
LM6000 turbine), a core machine with higher than the melting point of most
more than 10 million flight hours. metals. Cooling process
Building on GE’s design experience, The most critical element of an In current advanced gas turbines, the
the H employs a can-annular lean pre- advanced gas turbine is its hot gas path. stage 1 nozzle is cooled with compressor
mix DLN-2.5 dry low NOx (DLN) The compressor discharge air and fuel are discharge air flowing through the airfoil
combustor system. Fourteen combustion mixed and combusted in a chamber at a and discharging out into the combustion
chambers are used on the 9H, and 12 specific condition-combustion tempera- gas stream as the airfoil is cooled. The
combustion chambers are used on the 7H. ture. The flow stream of high-pressure, cooling process causes a temperature drop
It mixes fuel and air prior to ignition to high-temperature combustion products is of up to 155°C across the stage 1 nozzle. If
reduce emissions to 25ppm. accelerated as it passes the nozzle can be cooled with a closed-
This type of combustion system has loop coolant without film cooling, the
been proven in millions of hours of opera- temperature drop across the stage 1 nozzle
tion on other GE gas turbines would be less than 44°C, which would
permit a 110°C rise in firing temperature
with no increase in combustion tempera-
ture. That in turn, of course, means no
increase in NOx emissions. This is the
basis behind GE’s steam cooling with the
H System.
Steam exiting the HP turbine flows
through gas turbine blades, nozzles and
other parts, cooling them, and simultane-
ously re-heating the steam before it enters
the IP steam turbine.
The steam cooling concept has a dual
effect, allowing higher firing temperatures
to be achieved without combustion
temperature increases and permitting
more compressor discharge air to flow to
the head-end of the combustor for fuel
premixing.
“The benefit is that for about 8 per cent

INTERNATIONAL POWER GENERATION NOVEMBER 2003 11

H System Gas Turbine

The 9H gas turbine is prepared for testing.

The plant launch

ver 200 customers, executives, politicians, invited
O guests and media were in South Wales in
September for the launch of the Baglan Bay project.
The H benefits from four years The opening conference was addressed by the
of extensive testing and design Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain, plus John Rice,
validation,” says Mark Little. GE Power Systems president and CEO, and local Welsh
“From compressor blade tests, politicians. Hain brought a stark note of reality to the
combustion tests and launch event, “I have noticed that GE’s turnover is bigger than
system integrated control test. the entire Welsh budget!
Moving the turbine through Prior to shipping to the Baglan “Within two years UK gas imports will outstrip its
Wales to the plant. site the 9H gas turbine underwent production making it imperative that there is an effi-
two full speed no-load tests in the cient use of gas. The 9H CCGT plant is capable of 60
more airflow than a 50Hz 9F we get 25 per factory, which fully met our design expec- per cent efficiency compared to 21-39 per cent for coal-
cent more power with similar conditions,” tations. fired power stations, and produces 30 per cent less
says Ebacher. “As the combustor is “Here at Baglan, GE has undertaken a carbon emissions than a typical coal plant.”
running at about the same temperature, further five months of full characterisa- These words were eagerly echoed by GE’s ensemble of
there’s 200°F less drop across the stage 1 tion testing during which time we’ve vali- executives. “We have much to celebrate,” said Del
nozzle, so as we go into the first stage dated key technologies at the heart of the Williamson, GEPS president of global sales. “This H
blade, that generates the real power, H turbine.” System is a new technology platform that significantly
200°F hotter than we do in the F This testing phase encompassed mate- advances large-scale power generation.”
machine, and that’s why we get more rials, component, subsystem, and system Rice spoke about the teamwork that went into the H
power. testing of the compressor rigs, as well as System and Baglan Bay, “I can’t be prouder of the team
“We start the machine on air-cooling, tests of the combustion, inlet aero, and that brought the H System to life. In truth, this is a total
waste heat generates steam and at about Mark VI-based integrated control team effort spanning a multitude of companies, coun-
10 per cent power we do a transition to systems. tries and political bodies.”
steam cooling. When we first looked at But it didn’t entirely go to plan. A couple of days
this system we knew that the control First firing before the launch there was an alarm indicating a
system would be challenging to make sure First firing of the turbine occurred in localised temperature increase that caused the unit to be
that there was no load transients visible to November, with validation testing lasting taken offline.
the grid during the transition to steam until May. Having met its expectations, As part of the recommissioning process GE found
cooling.” GE is naturally proud of the new that there were three turbine blades out of 120, in one
machine’s performance. “As anyone section, that appear to have restricted steam flow. “That
Most tested turbine involved in commissioning combined- was not present in the earlier testing but it is being
With revolutionary steam cooling capa- cycle plant knows it is a difficult process,” addressed and the machine will run again and produce
bility and the new materials and use of says Don Hoffmann, H System product those high powers,” said Jon Ebacher, vice president of
high temperatures, it is little wonder that line manager. power systems technology at GEPS.
GE has been extremely cautious with the “Since first firing in November 2002, Subsequent thorough inspection of the stage two
commercial introduction of the H-tech- we’ve had 29 start attempts and everyone blades re-confirmed that the elevated temperature was
nology. The H System represents the most of those has been successful, no failures at the result of a localised cooling flow restriction caused
thoroughly tested industrial gas turbine all.” And after 12 years of design, engi- by foreign material collecting in the steam cooling path
technology in the company’s 100-year- neering and testing commercial launch of during the supplier’s manufacturing process.
plus history. Tests, which involved more the Baglan Bay CCGT plant took place in The milestone 60 per cent thermal efficiency figure
than 7,000 sensors placed on the equip- September. was not realised at Baglan. GE’s prime purpose here has
ment, validated GE’s closed-loop steam The H System gas turbine plant has been to run and validate the gas turbine technology.
cooling system. been the most eagerly awaited project for Also announced at the September launch was that GE
Following the successful conclusion of many years. On its launch GE executives expects to begin offering the H System as a commercial
the tests, instrumented components used and UK politicians lauded the technology. product beginning in the last quarter of this year. It
to gather data were replaced with Known for its caution and procrastina- already has an order from TEPCO to supply three 109H
commercial non-instrumented compo- tion, the power industry as a whole will systems for a project in Japan. Meanwhile GE is actively
nents. The system has been restarted for watch with close interest the performance looking for a launch site for its 60Hz 7H gas turbine.
commercial operation. of the turbine at Baglan. IPG

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