Electricity Supply Board of Ireland and GE have announced a major life extension and modernisation project for the Dublin Bay power plant, aimed at enhancing performance, reliability, increasing output, and supporting Ireland’s energy transition goals in line with ESB’s ‘Net Zero by 2040’ carbon emissions strategy.
Under a new contractual service agreement, GE Vernova will implement its GT26 High Efficiency upgrade along with its SEMIPOL technology for Static Excitation Equipment (SEE) and Startup Frequency Converter (SFC). This life extension project is expected to be completed in 2026. Commissioned in 2002, the Dublin Bay facility currently generates up to 415 MW using a single-shaft GT26 gas turbine.
This major life extension project is expected to deliver:
- Up to 30 MW of additional power, by increasing the output performance of the existing GT26 gas turbines. Efficiency gains of up to 1.8% at baseload should be achievable, leading to 5% carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction.
- Improved grid stability through advanced excitation and frequency conversion systems.
- Lower carbon intensity, supporting ESB’s decarbonisation strategy and enabling future use of hydrogen fuel blends.
“Although Dublin Bay is already one of our most efficient plants, we saw an opportunity in having an even more important role in delivering our Net Zero carbon emissions strategy by further enhancing its performance, reliability and sustainability.” said Arkadiusz Galant, Dublin Stations Manager, ESB. “Our life extension project in 2026 will help us to deliver more power … while being more efficient, with lower emissions, and enabling possible future hydrogen blends.”
GE’s GT26 HE upgrade was Introduced in 2019 to support the utilisation and competitiveness of the GT26 gas turbine. It integrates advanced technology from GE’s F and H class fleets, including additive manufactured parts and innovations in aerodynamics, materials and combustion. The performance improvement that the HE solution can deliver is attributable, says GE, to technology breakthroughs across every major component of the GT26 gas turbine – turbine, compressor and combustor.
