7ha.03 Gas Turbine

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Orencio Suhag

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Aug 3, 2024, 4:52:31 PM8/3/24

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FPL officially declared the Dania Beach Clean Energy Center near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, commercially operational on June 1, wrapping up a significant modernization effort at one of its oldest power plant sites. The two 7HA.03 gas turbines, which make up DBEC Unit 7, are slated to help FPL achieve a 70% emissions reduction compared to the previous site and boost reliability and affordability for its customer base in highly populated areas of Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

A crucial difference, however, is how the machines address market needs. 9HAs are geared for the 50-Hz markets, which constitute frequencies in large parts of the world (including Europe, Africa, most of Asia, and South America), while 7HAs cater to 60-Hz frequencies, which are typical in most of the Americas, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.

In a 10-year site plan submitted to regulators last year, FPL notably underscored the delicate balance it must achieve to provide affordable power while maintaining profitability. Another challenge involves balancing its load and generating capacity, including massive solar additions, particularly in fast-growing metropolitan areas, like Miami-Dade and Broward counties. But the utility is also looking to secure a reliable, flexible source of future supply, given uncertainties about how electric vehicle adoption and other measures could drive up demand, as well as how energy-efficiency measures will affect summer peak load by 2030.

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The economies of scale created by the 7HA gas turbine, combined with its 64% combined-cycle efficiency, enables the most cost-effective conversion of fuel to electricity to help power plant operators meet increasingly dynamic power demands.

The GE 7HA gas turbine portfolio facilitates easier installation with 10,000 fewer labor hours compared to F-class turbines. Additionally, its modular configuration also helps streamline maintenance with quick-removal turbine roof, field-replaceable blades, and 100% borescope inspection coverage for all blades. Its simplified dual-fuel system uses less water, eliminates recirculation, and utilizes enhanced liquid purge for improved reliability and dependability.

The 7HA combined cycle plant ramps up to full load in less than 30 minutes and features a novel configuration that supports simplified installation and maintenance. A 15% park mode enables customers to lower fuel burn and plant shutdown/startup costs during periods of low demand while providing a faster ramp to full load.

"Our new Sewaren 7 plant and the 7HA.02 gas turbine will help provide the marketindustry with more reliable and cleaner power at a lower cost of generation while also supporting the local economy with employment opportunities and tax revenues."

Reliable plant operations depend on access to a flexible parts service at a competitive price. Our global parts distribution centers are linked to regional supply chains, which means the highest-quality component inventory is on hand exactly when and where you need it.

Whether you're generating power for entire cities, electrifying your own operations, or are facing an emergency electricity shortage and need power fast, we can act as a versatile gas turbine supplier, ready to quickly provide a range of solutions.

With over 450 units deployed to more than 40 countries, GE Vernova has the largest operating and most experienced OEM F-class fleet in the world. Our 9F gas turbine delivers consistent performance and accommodates a diverse range of fuels, making it great for a variety of combined cycle and CHP applications.

The 7E.03 gas turbine is recognized as an industry leader for 60 Hz industrial power applications. Its robust architecture and operational flexibility make it well-suited for a variety of peaking, cyclic, and baseload operations. With state-of-the-art fuel handling equipment, multi-fuel combustion system options, and advanced gas path features, the 7E gas turbine can accommodate a full range of fuel alternatives while helping to deliver better efficiency and lower emissions than other technologies in its class.

Its ability to operate in island mode, coupled with multiple decades of proven rugged performance, make the 6B an excellent solution for remote installations and extreme operating conditions. The rugged, reliable 6B heavy-duty gas turbine is a popular choice for refineries, natural gas liquefaction power, CHP applications, and industrial power.

At the commercial operation day ceremony, FPL Chairman and CEO, Eric Silagy noted FPL has been working for over two decades to systematically modernize its fleet by replacing aging, inefficient plants with ultra-efficient, clean energy centers.

According to FPL, the new plant replaced an aging plant retired in 2018 and demolished to clear the site. The new plant will reduce fuel consumption by almost 30 percent per kWh, resulting in savings of more than $60 million per year in fuel cost compared to continued operation of the old plant.

FPL says the new Dania Beach plant is designed to produce around-the-clock power, with rapid response to changing demand and grid conditions. This will enable the company to continue its brisk solar expansion, already the largest in the United States.

In approving the project, the PSC showed strong support for the project saying it agreed that closing the existing Lauderdale power plant and reusing some of its infrastructure for the new plant was the most cost-effective way to go forward and meet increasing needs for electricity in South Florida. The regulator further said that the new Dania Beach plant will have significant benefits in terms of its environmental impact by reducing nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions by 95% and 22%, respectively. On top of this, the PSC acknowledged that new plant will result in a substantial reduction in water usage for power generation at the site, by as much as 1.7 million gallons per day.

FPL believes that with some future modifications, natural gas-fueled gas turbines like the units at Dania Beach will burn hydrogen instead of natural gas. Natural gas already results in the lowest carbon emissions possible burning fossil fuel, they explain, but hydrogen would result in zero carbon emissions.

FPL is developing a pilot project that will test the use of green hydrogen to replace a portion of the natural gas used at its 1,600MW (31 7HA.02) combined cycle power plant in Okeechobee County. The hydrogen will be generated by a 20MW electrolyzer being installed at the site powered by surplus solar energy. Operation is expected to begin in 2023.

It is noted that a 20MW electrolyzer can produce about 800 lb/hr of hydrogen. The actual portion of natural gas to be replaced with hydrogen during test operation would depend on the hydrogen storage capacity installed at the site and duration of test runs.

GE says it is making big strides toward decreasing carbon emissions. For instance, the 7HA.03 gas turbines at Dania Beach, enabled by the DLN2.6e combustion system, can already burn up to 50% (vol) hydrogen when blended with natural gas.

Water injection for wet compression (approximately 1% water-to-air ratio enables up to a 7% increase in gas turbine power output, which is especially useful in hot and tropical climates such as is common at the Dania Beach location.

Staged fuel injection allows maintaining low NOx performance while increasing firing temperature as the design achieves uniform and well-controlled heat release to avoid temperature spikes which could increase local NOx formation.

While operating at reduced firing temperature for part-load, the fuel injection split between zones can be adjusted to maintain emissions compliance (both NOx and CO) over a wide range of load settings. GE points out that axial fuel staging can limit NOx emissions from the 7HA.03 to less than 25ppm and CO to less than 9ppm, with low combustion dynamics, over a load range from 15% to 100% full-load.

Another benefit of fuel staging is the ability to reduce combustor residence time at high temperature which, along with flame temperature, is the principle determinant of NOx emission levels. This is achieved by adjusting the fuel injection split to limit the temperature rise in the primary reaction zone and by placing the secondary fuel injectors to shorten the residence time at high temperature in the secondary zone.

Overall, GE says that the DLN2.6e design provides a combustion system with higher firing temperature capability, lower emissions at both full and part-load, higher durability, lower turndown and higher fuel flexibility than predecessor designs. Turndown to 20% gas turbine load with emissions compliance also enables increased plant duty during periods of low demand.

The 7HA.03 has a proven 4-stage turbine framework originally introduced in the early 2000s on the steam-cooled H design. Instead of steam, however, it uses compressor bleed air to cool stator vanes and blades in all four turbine stages. The GE design does not rely on externally cooled compressor bleed air, with its associated piping, filters, heat exchangers, etc. that other OEMs use. This enables them to reduce plant footprint and equipment costs, lower auxiliary system loads, and reduce operating and maintenance costs.

According to GE engineers, the stage 4 turbine blade (S4B) has been lengthened for the 7HA.03 to accommodate roughly 10% increase in exhaust flow and to maximize gas turbine output and efficiency. As introduced with the 7HA.02, the S4B is a two-shroud design consisting of both a tip shroud and a mid-span shroud. Both shrouds engage during acceleration and provide damping to prevent potentially damaging vibration during operation.