In the 55 years since the Thomas H. Allen power station was commissioned in Memphis, Tennessee, energy technology has evolved tremendously and environmental laws have tightened. To take advantage of enhanced technology and help meet environmental requirements, the Tennessee Valley Authority is moving ahead with plans to replace the Allen fossil fuelled plant and the order to supply gas turbine generators for the new combined-cycle plant has gone to GE which will supply two of its 7HA.02 units.
The new plant will replace three coal-fired units that are being retired as TVA works toward a December 2018 deadline from the US Environmental Protection Agency to reduce coal emissions. GE's 7HA.02 gas turbines run on natural gas and are said to be the world's largest and most-efficient 60-Hertz gas turbines. In baseload operation, a 2x1 7HA.02 combined-cycle power plant, when compared to a typical coal fired power plant, will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 65% and reduce both sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by over 95%. The TVA Allen plant will have a rated capacity of 1000 MWe in combined-cycle mode.
"TVA has a strong plan to meet its obligations with the EPA while providing its customers with efficient, reliable power generation technologies," said Vic Abate, president and CEO, power generation products at GE Power & Water.
With the TVA project, 15 HA units have now been ordered by customers around the world. In addition to the United States, GE's H-class technology has been bought by customers in Japan, the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Korea, France, Russia, Germany and Turkey.
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