Initial power plants utilising the W501G gas turbine developed by Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp (SWPC) have entered commercial service. The advanced turbine system was developed by SWPC in cooperation with the US Department of Energy.
The new gas turbine has a nominal capacity of 250 MW and a net efficiency of about 58 per cent in combined cycle operation, SWPC claimed. Technologies used in the turbine were developed and validated under the DOE’s Advanced Turbine System programme.
A 360 MW combined cycle plant utilising the new turbine, the Millennium power station in Charlton Massachusetts, achieved commercial operation on 5 April. At the City of Lakeland, Florida, meanwhile, the McIntosh unit 5, 249 MW simple cycle plant entered service on 16 April. The latter is destined to be converted to combined cycle operation. SWPC said it had orders for 28 of the new units.