General Electric Drops on Confirmation of Issue with Turbine Component

TheStreet.com ^ | 09/20/2018 | Anders Keitz

[BenLurkin]

The Boston-based company discovered an "oxidation issue" that could cause distress on blade components of the HA gas turbine. GE launched the HA turbine in 2016 and has received orders for more than 80 turbines, more than half of which have already shipped to customers in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

"Obviously, this was a frustrating development, for us, as well as for our customers," GE Power CEO Russell Stokes wrote in a LinkedIn post. "But we have identified a fix and have been working proactively with HA operators to address impacted turbines."

"A few weeks ago, there was an event at Exelon's Colorado Bend site that resulted from an issue with an HA turbine component," GE said in an emailed statement. "We expect the same issue to impact other HA units. We have identified the solution and have a plan in place, and we have been proactively working with customers on a case-by-case basis to address any impacted unit. We expect the Exelon unit to return to service soon." Exelon (EXC - Get Report) is a utility company that supplies gas and electricity in 48 states.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Tnese H class machines are huge and was a big step up in capacity for a gas turbine. The combined cycle efficiency is at 64% now with a target of 64%. Getting to those higher efficiencies requires higher gas temperatures entering the turbine causing greater corrosion potential.

Wiki: The 605 MW General Electric 9HA achieved a 62.22% efficiency rate with temperatures as high as 2,800 °F. For 2018, GE offers its 826 MW HA at over 64% efficiency in combined cycle due to advances in additive manufacturing and combustion breakthroughs, up from 63.7% in 2017 orders and on track to achieve 65% by the early 2020s.

HA gas turbine being assembled:

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Additive manufacturing is playing a big role in these machines. From EENews:

The shiny metal tube in Kurt Goodwin's hand looks like a magician's work. A little smaller than a soda can, its thick walls are pierced by a series of holes seemingly drilled lengthwise, surrounding the center passageway. Except on second glance, the holes are uniformly curved. No drill could do that, confirms Goodwin, the leader of General Electric Co.'s $73 million advanced manufacturing center here in Greenville.

Goodwin is happy to show the piece off to a visitor, but no images, thank you. It is still proprietary.

GE made the tube with 3-D adaptive manufacturing, using a laser's intense heat to weld metal powder to form thin layers of solid metal, one atop the other, to create the complex design. It is part of the fuel assembly that delivers natural gas and massive volumes of air to burners on the business end of a GE natural gas turbine, the core product of the GE Power division..

...GE has invested $3 billion on the frontier technology of additive manufacturing, including $220 million in research and development as of last December.

As of December 2017, GE had shipped 25,000 3-D parts for its jet engines and power units.

[Moonman62]

Wiki: The 605 MW General Electric 9HA achieved a 62.22% efficiency rate with temperatures as high as 2,800 °F. For 2018, GE offers its 826 MW HA at over 64% efficiency in combined cycle due to advances in additive manufacturing and combustion breakthroughs, up from 63.7% in 2017 orders and on track to achieve 65% by the early 2020s.

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That’s one of the reasons why I believe technological advancement is the key to having less impact on the environment, not bigger government.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The switch to high efficiency combustion turbine / combined cycle is what has driven U.S. CO2 emissions to low levels. Natural gas emits half the CO2 of coal and combined cycle plants have almost double the efficiency of coal, so they put out 1/4 the CO2 of coal.

I actually think it is a,dreadful mistake to use gas to make electricity. Save gas for home and commercial heating and for feedstock to petrochemical processes. It is way too valuable to make electricity with; generate power with nukes and coal.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Also, reducing CO2 is just plain stupid and a huge waste of resources. CO2 should not be driving energy policy. It is causing the misallocation of resources everywhere.

[bert]

yes or nucs

[wjcsux]

Gas turbine engines are starting to approach the efficiency of steam power plants. One huge benefits for utility companies is the big difference in capital expenditures for gas turbines vs a conventional steam power plant of the same size. No boilers and corresponding support equipment to contend with.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

All utility base load and intermediate load plants using gas turbines are all combined cycle. That is, they combine the gas turbine cycle (Brayton cycle) with the steam turbine cycle (Rankine cycle). The waste gas from the gas turbine flows to a “heat recovery steam generator”to make steam and power the steam turbine. This is what yields the high efficiency. The CTCCs beat simple cycle steam plants long ago on efficiency.