POWER January 2011 - 12

gas turbine combined-cycle (GTCC) power generation applications,
in which heat-recovery steam generators and steam
turbines are also used. The 60% gross thermal efficiency of
the turbine, moreover, makes it the world's most efficient
GTCC, MHI claims.
MHI says it has already started working on projects that
call for delivery of the J-Series starting in 2011, but it also
continues to push the product onto the global market. Meanwhile,
it says it will closely watch testing of the new turbine
not only to verify that it can operate over the long term
but also because results could spur development of an even
higher-temperature turbine.
Interest in the technology in Japan is surging. Mostly due
to climate change concerns, the country, already a major consumer
of natural gas (it has more than 40 liquefied natural
gas terminals and produces double its import capacity domestically),
is seeing more gas-fired power plants being built.
But MHI's efforts to send the J-Series to market are perhaps
being harried by competitor Siemens Energy's announcement
just six months earlier, in June 2010, that after a nearly
decade-long development phase, its H-class turbine was commercially
available. Describing the SGT6-8000H, which boasts
60% efficiency, Siemens called the 60-Hertz turbine a " masterpiece
of engineering. " Florida Power & Light will be that
model's first customer, and Siemens expects to sell at least 10
turbines a year in the medium term.
Yet, of late, Siemens has been focusing on the midsize
industrial gas turbine market, for which it foresees " a marked
increase in demand, " particularly for turbines with ratings of
between 35 MW and 40 MW through 2020.
This November, the German company released a 37-MW
industrial gas turbine-the SGT-750 (Figure 4)-a machine
designed to be employed in simple-cycle and combined-cycle
power plants for baseload, standby, and peak-shaving applications.
According to Siemens, the twin-shaft turbine-which
attains an efficiency level of 40%, the company claims-uses
components from other gas turbines. It also uses a dry low
emission combustion system to cut nitrogen oxide emissions.
A less-discussed but key advantage of the turbine is
that maintenance work can be performed on site, minimizing
downtime. Siemens said, " Maintenance downtimes for this
machine have been cut to a mere 17 days in 17 years. "
TransCanada Opens 683-MW Halton Hills
Combined-Cycle Plant
TransCanada Corp. on Oct. 28 officially opened its C$700 million
Halton Hills Generating Station. The 683-MW 2 x 1 combined-cycle
plant on a greenfield site in Ontario (Figure 5)
will operate under a 20-year power purchase agreement with
the Ontario Power Authority (OPA). Construction of the peaker
plant started in December 2007 and was completed on time
and on budget, TransCanada said.
Just weeks before the announcement, the company was
forced to terminate a contract with the province's government
to build the Oakville Generating Station, a C$1.2 billion
natural gas-fired power plant planned for construction near
Toronto, a project that had met with considerable public opposition
from Oakville residents. The Ministry of Energy and
Infrastructure said its decision to suspend development work
on the plant was a result of power demand and supply changes,
which had made it clear that the proposed plant was no
longer needed.
January 2011 | POWER
TransCanada said it had undertaken extensive consultation
with local stakeholders concerning the Halton Hills project,
located just west of Toronto, and remained committed to open
communication throughout the design, construction, and operation
stages of the project.
Ontario is seeking to phase out its coal-fired power plants
by 2014 and recently released a C$87 billion long-term energy
plan, which projects that power demand in the province is
expected to grow 15% between 2010 and 2030. Among key
features of the plan are converting two units at the Thunder
Bay coal plant to natural gas and converting the Atikokan coal
plant to biomass.
The province's Ministry of Energy also said that two additional
coal units at Nanticoke would be shut down in
2011. Other efforts include increasing generating capacity
from wind, solar, and bioenergy to total 10,700 MW by 2018
through transmission expansion, maximizing the use of the
existing system, and feed-in-tariff programs. Among transmission
plans to be given priority are five projects " needed immediately
for reliability. "
But the bulk of the province's efforts and funds will be
spent on increasing nuclear power output, which provides
nearly 50% of the province's power, the ministry said. " To
do so Ontario will rebuild what it can, and replace [what] it
can't, " it said. " Units at the Darlington and Bruce sites will
need to be modernized and the province will need two new
nuclear units at Darlington. " TransCanada is also part owner
of Bruce Power, which it called " North America's largest power
facility. " Bruce is in the midst of a restart and refurbishment
program that will ultimately deliver another 1,500 MW to the
Ontario power grid, increasing the total output to over 6,300
MW. (See " Brace A Proves There Are Second Acts in Nuclear
Power " in our August 2010 issue.) ■
-Sonal Patel is POWER's senior writer.
www.powermag.com
11
5. Gas trumps coal in Ontario. Amid plans to phase out coal
power in Ontario by 2014, the Canadian province's government is
looking to increase output from natural gas and nuclear plants. Last
October, TransCanada Corp. opened its C$700 million Halton Hills Generating
Station, a 683-MW 2 x 1 combined-cycle plant in the town of
Halton Hills. Courtesy: TransCanada
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POWER January 2011

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