Shoreham power station is set to be upgraded. GE announced that Shoreham’s owner, Drax Power, has invested in its gas turbine upgrade package for the power station near Brighton.
GE will perform an enablement inspection in 2019 to allow operation through 2021, which is when the upgrade will be implemented on the gas turbine. The upgrade will increase combined-cycle efficiency by about 2.5%, adding more than 40MW of power at baseload – which will attract additional Capacity Market payments – and should mean longer periods between inspection and maintennance outages. The package will include digital solutions to help Drax increase the plant’s flexibility .
Andy Koss, chief executive of generation at Drax said: “GE’s GT26 HE gas turbine upgrade could provide a significant efficiency increase, more flexibility and greater power output from Shoreham power station.” New software should improve Drax’s predictive maintenance capabilities and the availability and reliability of the power station, and will also deliver enterprise data visibility across the power plant, providing a ‘holistic understanding’ of operational decisions.
“Our new HE product is the most advanced solution we’ve ever introduced on a GT26 gas turbine, and it provides significant performance improvements for an F-class combined-cycle gas turbine upgrade,” said Amit Kulkarni, general manager of H/F-Class turbines for GE’s Power Services business. “Not only will this upgrade help Drax improve its efficiency and output, but it will also improve its competitive position in the U.K. energy marketplace. The power increase will be rewarded in the event of a successful bid in the U.K.’s capacity auction, and the lifetime improvement will reduce maintenance costs.”
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