POWER August 2016 - 23

PLANT OF THE YEAR
1. Green light. LED lights recessed between sections of the Fortuna combined cycle plant illuminate
it at night. This shot was taken on official commissioning day, May 22, 2016. Courtesy: Siemens
2. Window on the city. A visitor viewing
platform at the top of the Fortuna unit
overlooks the curve of the Rhine River in Düsseldorf.
The closed framework and joints are
illuminated at night. Courtesy: Siemens
Vallourec S.A. provided 1,000 tons of premium-grade
corrosion-resistant boiler tubes.
AkzoNobel Global supplied several thousand
liters of high-performance coatings from its
International range for the plant's structural
steel and pipework. Norway's Statoil is supplying
the natural gas.
Designed by the architectural firm
kadawittfeldarchitektur, the building complex
enhances the cityscape by communicating
the pioneering nature of the facility.
Fortuna's silver-colored steel façade has also
been creatively optimized. The reflective outer
shell features hundreds of recessed LED
lights that turn the building into something of
an illuminated work of art at night (Figure 1).
But one of the most unusual design elements
is the 65-meter-high " city window " (shown
in this issue's cover photo during the day and
in Figure 2 at night). Glazed on both sides, it
forms the northeastern end of the plant and
includes an observation deck that's 45 meters
above street level.
Fortuna was completed 18 days ahead of
schedule, on budget, after more than 2 million
worker hours of construction. Not a single
lost-time accident occurred throughout
the erection phase (see table).
Record-Setting Plant
The Latin word " fortuna " means " luck " or
" destiny, " and when officially commissioned
on May 22 this year, Fortuna represented both
the current technological apex of gas turbine
development and pointed the way forward for
how natural gas-powered plants can compete
with and eventually potentially replace coal
in Germany and in other locations around the
world while continuing to drive down CO2
emissions (see sidebar " Never-ending Competition
for Greater Efficiency " ).
Düsseldorf's development strategy was
to economically meet its ambitious climate
goals of achieving carbon neutrality by the
year 2050, which for this city in western
August 2016 | POWER
Germany means reducing CO2 emissions to
just 2 tons per capita. Located adjacent to the
Rhine River near the city's harbor, Fortuna's
new CCGT and cogeneration system uses the
heat generated by its turbines three times:
twice to make steam to generate electricity
and once to provide district heating for an increasing
percentage of Düsseldorf's 600,000
residents.
The centerpiece of Fortuna is a single Siemens
Model SGT5-8000H gas turbine, manufactured
in Berlin (Figure 3). Together with the
downstream steam turbine of Siemens SST55000
series, operating in combined cycle, the
unit has a capacity of 603.8 MW-a world record
for a single-shaft CCGT when the plant
was commissioned. The gas turbine can run
at full load in less than 25 minutes after a hot
start, enabling it to ramp quickly, ensure grid
stability, and take advantage of any opportunity
to generate both electricity and income.
" We selected fully air-cooled technology
for our engines, " said Willibald Fischer, Siemens'
director for gas turbine product management,
at an April press event at Fortuna
attended by this POWER freelancer. " We
derive 400 MW from the turbine, which is
about two-thirds of the power of the plant.
The other one-third is from the steam turbine.
This is a total one to one at roughly 600 MW.
The overall efficiency increases from 40% to
over 60%, " Fischer said. The triple-pressure
Benson HRSG that heats steam to over 600C
at 170 bar clearly supports Fortuna's high
electrical efficiency.
Fortuna's 61.5% electrical efficiency exceeds
the previous world record (also set
by Siemens) of 60.75%, set by the Ulrich
Hartmann combined cycle Unit 4 at Irsching
Power Station in southern Germany-a 2011
POWER gas-fired Top Plant Award winner.
Fortuna's high electrical efficiency, combined
with its efficient use of " waste " heat
generated in the power production process
for district heating-when the plant operates
www.powermag.com
Never-ending Competition
for Greater Efficiency
Since commissioning of Unit 4 at the
Irsching Power Plant, Siemens has sold
nearly 80 other H-class turbines. Including
the new Fortuna unit in Düsseldorf,
19 H-class turbines are now in commercial
operation worldwide. Additionally,
combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants
are increasingly in demand, particularly
as global gas supplies increase. According
to Siemens, combined, the company's
H-class turbines have delivered over
230,000 equivalent hours of operation
as of June 2016, fleet reliability is over
99%, and availability tops 96%.
However, as this story goes to press,
two of Fortuna's records have already
been broken. In mid-June, General Electric,
which recently purchased Alstom,
announced in combination with French
energy provider EDF that it had set a new
efficiency record of up to 62.22% at the
Bouchain, France, combined cycle power
plant. GE's high-performance HA turbine
was able to generate 605 MW, also surpassing
Fortuna's capacity.
The Bouchain plant is also designed for
quick starts and stops so it can ramp up as
renewables slow down. Ramp times however,
are a little slower than at Fortuna.
Bouchain requires an additional 5 minutes
to fully power up. The technology vendor
battles continue as GE has pledged to surpass
the 65% efficiency mark in coming
years as generators increasingly look to
CCGT plants to replace coal, reduce emissions,
and ensure grid stability.
in combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration
mode-increases overall efficiency
of the plant to around 85% and reduces CO2
emissions to 230 grams (g)/kWh. By way
23

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POWER August 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER August 2016