POWER September 2010 - 40

TOP PLANTS
Timelkam Power Plant
Vöcklabruck District,
Upper Austria, Austria
Owner/operator: Energie AG Oberösterreich and the Swiss Groupe E
Now that the 412-MW Timelkam Power
Plant has replaced a 47-year-old coalfired
power plant located in the Vöcklabruck
District, northern Austrians can
bid auf wiedersehen (goodbye) to high
levels of air pollution. Compared to its
predecessor, the new gas-fired combined-cycle
plant has dramatically cut
CO2 and NOx emissions and produces
seven times more energy.
By Angela Neville, JD
Courtesy: Energie AG
A
ustria is famous for Alpine ski slopes,
historic castles, and Mozart's melodies.
Beyond its tourist attractions, it
is a prosperous country with a well-developed
market economy and citizens who enjoy a high
standard of living. The latest example of Austrians
wedding style and function is the Timelkam
combined-cycle power plant (CCPP), which is
configured to also supply steam to the local
district heating system. The facility's attractive
architecture is called " marriage with the sky "
and is intended to symbolize the replacement
of coal with natural gas, which represents a
cleaner energy supply.
Austria's annual gross electrical production
is approximately 67.1 billion kWh and
its consumption is about 68.65 billion kWh
(2008 estimates), according to statistics from
e-controls (Austrian regulators). The country
exports approximately 14.93 billion kWh of
40
electricity yearly and imports about 19.8 billion
kWh (2008 estimates).
The 412-MWe/100 MWt Timelkam
CCPP, which went into operation in December
2008, was built to provide for the electrical
needs of the state of Upper Austria, home
to the city of Linz. With its advanced turbine
technology, the facility can attain an electrical
efficiency of approximately 58.7% in its
condensing operation while producing low
pollutant emissions. With district heat extraction
of up to 100 MWt, the plant utilizes
up to 70% of its fuel. Carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions per generated kilowatt-hour are
two-thirds lower than emissions generated
by the coal-fired power plant that formerly
operated at the same location, while nitrous
oxides (NOx) are reduced by 90%. NOx
emissions are kept at an exceptionally low
level of less than 20 milligrams per normal
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cubic meter thanks to the built-in catalytic
reactor unit.
Project Data
As in simple-cycle applications, the gas turbine
is the main driver for power generation at
CCPPs. However, to improve overall efficiency,
CCPPs also use exhaust heat from the gas
turbine to produce steam for the generation of
additional electricity by a steam turbine.
The power plant consists of an SCC54000F-1S
single-shaft unit of the Siemens
design, in which the main components-
SGT5-4000F gas turbine (Figure 1), SST55000
steam turbine, and SGen5-2000H
generator-are arranged along a single line
of shafting, according to Martin Wilkening,
Siemens sales manager for gas turbine power
plant solutions in Central Eastern Europe.
" The gas turbine deployed in Timelkam-
POWER | September 2010
http://www.powermag.com
POWER September 2010

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