GE Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Its 6F Gas Turbine Secures Two New Orders

GE  announced  that the company’s 6F gas turbine has achieved 25 years of successful operations for customers. Offering superior performance, reliability, and flexibility, the 6F fleet operates in more than 40 countries around the world for 50+ customers—and there are now more than 200 6F units in commercial operation globally. In conjunction with this milestone, GE also announced two orders for the 6F.03 in China with Guangdong Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Limited (Lee & Man) and China Huadian Corporation (CHD) Xiangyang.

“The flexibility, reliability and efficiency of GE’s 6F turbine make it an integral part of our gas fleet. It also operates in a diverse range of applications while offering our dedicated customers the performance they need and expect,” said Martin O’Neill, Product Management Leader at GE Power. “We are excited to celebrate this major milestone anniversary with our customers who have trusted the 6F’s operations for the last quarter century, and look forward to many years of successful operations ahead.”

“Our strong relationship with GE began in the ’90s with the first order for a 70MW 6FA.01 gas turbine,” said Troy Patton, Chief Operating Officer at Northland Power. “It continued with operations support over the years and now, 25 years later, we are still benefiting from the high reliability of GE’s proven gas turbine technology. What we have benefitted from the most is the unit’s ability to adapt to our needs, and the needs of the system as Ontario’s energy market evolves.”

GE’s 6F turbines are capable of operating on a wide range of natural gas, distillate and synthetic fuels and are known for best-in-class efficiency and high exhaust energy. It can generate up to 87 megawatts (MW) of power in simple cycle and achieves greater than 57% combined-cycle efficiency.

GE announced it will provide two 6F.03 gas turbines to Lee & Man for the gas-fired cogeneration plant located at Hongmei Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China, and two 6F.03 units for the Phase 1 gas-fired cogeneration project for CHD Xiangyang Fancheng, which will be the first 6F.03 project in the Hubei Province of China. With these two new orders, GE has sold a total of 36 6F.03 units in China and and 17 of those units are currently in operation.

The gas-fired cogeneration project for Lee & Man will have GE providing two 6F.03 gas turbines each at the capacity of 75MW. To maximize steam supply, the project will utilitize both gas turbines and a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The designed fuel efficiency rate is over 85%. The plant is capable to produce 1.2 million tons of steam per year. Once put into use, the plant will replace the use of 600,000 tons of standard coal, and reduce emissions of 750,000 tons carbon dioxide, 5,000 tons sulfur dioxide, 2,000 tons nitrogen oxide and 5,000 tons dust. The Phase I 2x6F.03 project of Lee & Man is expected to be put into commercial operation in 2020.

GE’s 6F.03 gas turbines at CHD Xiangyang will provide both heat and electricity to the Aeronaurics and Astronautics Industrial Park of Fancheng District, Xiangyang City and to the nearby downtown area. The project has a total installed capacity of 250MW. The expected fuel efficiency rate is over 80%. A heat supply pipeline will also be built, with a heat supply capacity of 2.09 million gigajoules a year. By replacing a coal-fired power plant of the same scale, it will also substitute 620,000 tons of standard coal, and reduce emissions of 770,000 tons carbon dioxide, 5,000 tons sulfur dioxide, 2,000 tons nitrogen oxide and 5,000 tons dust. Upon its commission, the project will become a new heat supply center, replacing the outdated coal-fired units and boilers including Anneng Coal-fired Power Plant. This project is expected to be put into commercial operation in the second half of 2020.

“China is on its path to build a lower-carbon, cleaner, safer and more efficient energy system. Gas distributed power is efficient, reliable and flexible, helping generate power during periods of grid instability, maintaining the dynamic balance of the electricity system,” said Yang Dan, Vice President of GE and President, GE Power China. “The 6F.03 gas turbine is a perfect fit for distributed energy and industry cogeneration applications in China with its high flexibility and steam to power ratio.”

“As the world’s power system evolves, the 6F turbine will continue to play a vital role in the future global energy landscape,” said Ajay Gupta, 6F Senior Product Manager for GE Power. “GE’s on-going investment has enhanced durability and flexibility while improving performance including 24% more megawatts and 5% greater efficiency since the original 6F introduction in 1996.”

About GE Power

GE Power is a world energy leader providing equipment, solutions and services across the energy value chain from generation to consumption. Operating in more than 180 countries, our technology produces a third of the world’s electricity, equips 90 percent of power transmission utilities worldwide, and our software manages more than forty percent of the world’s energy. Through relentless innovation and continuous partnership with our customers, we are developing the energy technologies of the future and improving the power networks we depend on today. For more information please visit www.ge.com/power, and follow GE Power on Twitter  and on LinkedIn.