POWER May 2015 - 27

DISTRIBUTED GENERATION AND ENERGY STORAGE
1. Designed for flexibility. Six J920 FleXtra gas engines will be used for Sky Global
Partners' 51.2-MW power plant in Texas. The plant will provide flexible power to San Bernard
Electric Cooperative Inc. with 5-minute startup and 49% electrical efficiency. Courtesy: GE
the region, as needed, while also providing
efficient baseload power.
In short, these flexible, efficient, and modular
power plants reduce fuel cost, increase
availability, and help the grid to cope with the
variable and uncertain power needs.
Shifting from Diesel to Gas
Gas-fired distributed power offers significantly
reduced emissions when compared to traditional
diesel generation while also enabling improved
efficiency and lower-cost electricity.
As an example, Michigan South Central
Power Agency (MSCPA) chose GE's lowemissions
Jenbacher reciprocating engine
technology to replace outdated diesel engines
and to meet energy capacity needs for the city
of Coldwater. Three new Jenbacher J624 engines
will provide 13 MW of reliable power
for Coldwater's constituents at a high (44%)
efficiency (Figure 2).
Jenbacher gas engines can achieve up2.
Cold day for Coldwater installation. Three J624 engines will be used for the
municipality of Coldwater's 13-MW plant in Michigan. The plant will provide flexible power with
5-minute startup and greater than 44% electrical efficiency. Courtesy: GE
wards of 95% total efficiency in combined
heat and power (CHP) configuration. Inland
Power Group, GE's Authorized Jenbacher
Channel Partner, provided the engines for
MSCPA and will also provide local parts and
service capabilities to ensure reliability.
T&D Alternative
Distributed power also can provide needed ancillary
services to the grid and can be located near a
load center, which reduces electrical losses.
Nearly every major urban center is experiencing
load growth, and these areas are supported
by aging power lines and transformers
nearing their overload limits. These pockets
of congestion often drive utilities to re-conductor
the lines, replace transformers, and/
or upgrade substations. The time and cost associated
with these upgrades are increasingly
being compared to the cost of deploying distributed
power closer to load.
With distributed power, it may be possible
engines, capable of generating 51.2 MW at
49% electrical efficiency. This power plant
will be well-suited for frequent starts and
stops, as well as load-following operations,
without additional maintenance costs. The
engine's two-stage turbocharger technology
will also enable the units to run at full load at
temperatures as hot as 104F. This GE engine
family achieved a technical breakthrough in
March when it achieved 50.1% electrical efficiency
in a test environment-a first for the
industry. Higher efficiency can help to better
meet new demand for more efficient on-site
power, enabling significant fuel cost savings.
The Black Hills Corp. has developed a 2 x
May 2015 | POWER
LMS100 simple cycle power plant, in combination
with a 4 x LM6000 combined cycle
power plant in Pueblo, Colo., for a total capacity
of 380 MW. The plant is capable of a
10-minute start for gas turbines and less than
an hour for combined cycle hot start time, all
while employing load-following and cycling
capabilities based on proven technologies.
The Black Hills installation can serve a full
range of power load requirements for the region,
and it is an excellent example of distributed
power's greater flexibility compared
to older centralized generation facilities. The
superior cycling and mid-merit performance
can help to integrate wind and solar power in
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to defer or potentially eliminate the need for
a costly transmission and distribution (T&D)
upgrade and avoid the transmission losses
associated with delivering power from large,
centralized generation plants.
To address its growing urban load and aging
infrastructure, New York Power Authority
3. Supporting system reliability.
An LM6000 installed in Staten Island, N.Y.
Courtesy: New York Power Authority
27

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POWER May 2015

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