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H System steams on
Commercial operation of the first 50 Hz
plant to employ GE's H System technology
with its innovative closed-loop steam
cooling was followed by the
announcement of a site for the
all-important 60 Hz lead project, now the
subject of a study to determine whether it
is the best way of meeting Qubecs
energy needs.

David Smith

hese are heady days for GE

Power Systems advanced gas turbine developers. With commercial demonstration operation of
the first H machine (a 50 Hz, 9H
version), at Baglan Bay (pictured above), closely followed by the announcement of the site
for the world's first 7H (the 60 Hz version of
the H) and the introduction of the equally innovative LMS100 gas turbine (MPS, January
2004) we see major steps in the integration of
the most advanced aircraft engine technology
into industrial power generation applications.
In January 2003 Hydro-Qubec announced
that it would partner GE in implementing a
twin unit 836 MW gas-fired combined-cycle
power plant employing 7H technology. The

Qubec government authorised an improved

version of the original project and the federal
government favourably concluded its evaluation under the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act. However, in February 2004
the Qubec government, responding to criticism of the plan, effectively put the project on
hold pending the outcome of a study, with
public consultation, examining the provinces
energy needs to 2010 and whether the plant
was justified. A report has been requested
from Qubecs Rgie de lEnergie (Energy
Board), for completion by 30 June.
The proposed site for the Surot 7H plant is
at Beauharnois, southwest of Montreal. It had
been scheduled to enter commercial service in
mid-2007. Interestingly, Canada's commitment

to the Kyoto Protocol was cited as one of the

determining factors in Hydro-Qubec's selection of H technology for the new plant.
The Surot 7H plant, asssuming approval,
would be built under an existing partnership
with Beauharnois-Salaberry RCM and the municipality of Beauharnois.
Qubec's environmental hearing board,
BAPE, reviewed the Surot project and urged
that a concerted continent-wide effort be
made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "If
this technology had been used for all gas-fired
combined-cycle plants built in the last two
years in North America, the emission of 5.5
million tons of GHG would have been avoided," declared Hydro-Qubec President and
CEO Andr Caill.
February 2004 Modern Power Systems

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UPDATE: ADVANCED GAS TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

Baglan Bay, Wales, launch site for

GEs H System technology (also
shown in the photo on p.17)

Comparison of combined cycle plant performance characteristics

Firing temperature (C)
Air flow (kg/s)
Compressor compression ratio
Specific work (MW/kg/s)
Combined cycle net output (MWe)
Net thermal efficiency (%)
N0x (ppmvd at 15% 02)

7FA
1300
444
16
0.58
260
56
9

7H
1430
558
23
0.72
400
60
9

Cutaway of H gas turbine

Shipment of the 7H combined cycle system

for the Surot project will be covered under a
previously announced agreement signed by GE
The first 7H, at GE's Greenville facility

18

Modern Power Systems February 2004

9FA
1300
640
17
0.61
390
56.7
9

9H
1430
685
23
0.70
480
60
9

and Toshiba of Japan in 1998.

Under this agreement, GE has H
System integration and performance responsibility, and will
design and manufacture the H
gas turbines and supply the integrated control systems for the
power train. Toshiba will manufacture the GE-designed compressors,
along
with
Toshiba-designed generators
and steam turbines.
Following the loss of the
Sithe Energies Heritage site in
upstate New York, where the
growth in electricity demand
had substantially diminished,
the new 7H two unit field test
site in Canada was seen as
good news for GE. But now the
project must wait for a further
final approval.
The 7H has already been
successfully tested at fullspeed, no-load conditions at
GE's Greenville, SC, gas turbine manufacturing facility.

9H at Baglan Bay

Meanwhile at Baglan Bay, in

Wales, UK, five months of validation testing were completed in May 2003. The results
appear to have been the predicted success for what must
be the most careful and
painstaking gas turbine development programme of all time.
This was the first field operation of a gas turbine with steam
cooling of both stationary and
rotating blades. In the course of
testing the single unit was run
over a variety of operating
points including baseload at full
480 MWe output and extended
load up to 530 MWe at 6.7C.
The tests, involving more than 7000 sensors
placed on the equipment, have validated GE's
innovative closed-loop steam-cooled technolo-

gy and have successfully demonstrated the

overall plant design. Extensive testing also has
validated more than 100 critical-to-quality characteristics, "We are very pleased with the results of the field tests," said Mark Little, VP, GE
Power Systems - Energy Products. "Our ongoing analysis of test data is correlating well with
pre-test engineering predictions."
The Baglan Bay plant has not cracked the
psychological 60% combined cycle thermal efficiency barrier, nor, says GE, was it intended
to. The primary purpose of Baglan Bay is to
validate the gas turbine technology capable of
achieving 60% in combined cycle. But the system's 2 to 3% increase over the current state
of the art will represent a huge benefit in commercial operation performance.
Following successful completion of the
characterisation testing, a planned outage was
scheduled to replace highly instrumented turbine components with standard non-instrumented components. Following conclusion of
the outage in late August 2003, GE completed some additional tests as part of the pre-commercial commissioning, which included a
series of start-ups and shut downs followed by
borescope inspection.
The plan was to restart the plant for an 8000
hour commercial demonstration run in
September 2003 but this has been delayed. On
22 October GE declared that during initial operation following the replacement of the
rotor, control and monitoring instrumentation indicated that three of the second stage
buckets were operating at elevated temperature as compared to expectations.
According to a GE statement, "Thorough inspection of the stage two buckets re-confirmed that the elevated temperature was the
result of a localised cooling flow restriction
caused by foreign material collecting in the
steam cooling path during the supplier's manufacturing process. A full evaluation of the
supplier's process is now under way."
The unit was shut down for inspection, root
cause analysis and any required corrective actions. A further statement declared, "The inspections have confirmed that the elevated
temperature was not the result of a design issue."
During the same outage, following a thorough inspection of the entire power plant, evidence of leakage was observed in the HRSG,
which was corrected. Again, it was reported
that the HRSG issue was not related to the H
System design. The HRSG is massive (see
upper photo, p22) but of fairly standard design, with three pressure levels plus reheat.
The plant was subsequently restarted and
at the time of writing had been feeding some
530 MW into the network for several months.
Welsh political and business leaders gathered
with GE Power Systems executives and global
customers at the Baglan Bay power station on
12 September 2003 to celebrate the commercial operation of the world's "most powerful and
most efficient gas turbine technology."
"This is a major milestone not only for GE,
but for the entire power industry," said John
Rice, president and CEO of GE Power Systems.
The closed-loop steam cooling system permits the higher firing temperatures required
for increased efficiency while retaining combustion temperatures at levels consistent with
low emissions.
The H System was developed as part of the
US Department of Energy's ATS (Advanced
Turbine System programme), which would

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UPDATE: ADVANCED GAS TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

Swozzles and spoolies

GE's well tried and proven DLN can annular
combustors can limit NOx to below 9 ppmv
utilising lean premix flow fed to "swozzles"
a new word not as yet included in the OED
which is formed by the conjunction of
"swirler" and "nozzle".
But the key distinguishing feature of the H
gas turbine is the steam cooling in the turbine.
The first two stages are steam cooled, the third
stage is air cooled, and the fourth stage is uncooled. By using four stages, the H turbine is
able to optimise work loading of each stage
and achieve higher turbine efficiency.
The rotor steam delivery system used to provide steam to cool the stage 1 and 2 turbine
buckets relies on "spoolies" to effectively deliver steam to the buckets without detrimental leakage of steam, which would lead to
performance loss and adverse thermal gradients within the rotor structure. The basic concept for power system steam sealing is derived
from many years of successful application of
spoolies in GE aircraft engines, eg, the CF6 and
CFM56 engine families.
In each of the attempts to build large utility
scale superconducting generators to date similar devices have been successfully used to introduce liquid helium or hydrogen into the
rotors, and if these fluids have been transported
in this way without excessive loss steam should
probably not be that much of a problem.
In the preliminary design phase, parametric

9H readied for testing

returned to the steam cycle in the cold reheat

line to the reheater. Thus, the closed circuit
gas turbine steam cooling system operates in
series with the reheater.
The gas turbine cooling steam system is integrated with the steam bottoming system to reliably provide steam at all operating conditions.
During normal loaded operation the supply of
cooling steam is from the HP steam turbine exhaust and the HRSG IP superheater. The steam

Simplified water-steam schematic

Exhaust gas

HRSG
Cold
reheat
steam

Exhaust
to stack

T
Gas turbine

HP

Air

Hot reheat steam

Combustor

HP steam in

Nozzle steam cooling - out

Nozzle steam cooling - in

H technology was previously described in the

June 1995 and May 1999 issues of Modern
Power Systems. But development of the H
technology concept first began in 1992, which
tends to indicate how long the gestation period for this radically advanced concept has
been. Every aspect of the new technology has
been exhaustively tested and proven in research rigs and twice on the full scale pre-shipment test stand at Greenville.
In addition to the new steam cooling system,
the H turbine has single-crystal first-stage buckets and nozzles to withstand higher temperatures over a long service life.
The use of steam cooling resolves the conflict
between higher firing temperature and lower
NOx. A typical advanced air-cooled first stage
nozzle has a nominal 155C (280F) temperature
drop, because in this open loop cooling system
the air that is used to cool the nozzle mixes with
the main flow stream, thereby reducing its temperature upstream of the first stage bucket.
In the closed loop steam cooled nozzle, the
steam does not mix with the main flow stream
and therefore does not dilute its temperature,
and so the flow stream temperature is only reduced by the effect of flow across the cooled
nozzle. With a temperature drop of only 45C
(80F), the steam-cooled nozzle design can
maintain the same combustor exit temperature, and therefore the same NOx levels, and
yet benefit from a 111C (200F) increase in
firing temperature over the F class machines.
Much of the H design is based on proven turbine technology. The H compressors were
based on the compressor designed for the CF680C2 aircraft engine and the aeroderivative
LM6000 gas turbine.

Bucket steam cooling - out

One giant step...

analysis was performed to optimise spoolie

configuration. Component testing began for
both air and steam systems. Sample spoolies
in the component tests were instrumented to
validate the analysis.
In the conceptual design phase, material selection was made to account for application
with steam. Coatings to improve durability of
the spoolies were also tested. In the preliminary design phase, parametric analysis was performed to optimise spoolie configuration.
Component testing began for both air and
steam systems. Sample spoolies in the component tests were instrumented to validate the
analysis. Again, the combination of analysis and
validation tests provided confirmation that the
design was proceeding with the right concept.
Over 50 component tests have been conducted on these spoolies evaluating coatings,
lateral loads, fits, axial motion, angular motion, temperature, and surface finish.
The detailed design phase focused on optimisation of the physical features of the subsystem, spoolie-coating and seat.
Steam is supplied from the high pressure
(HP) steam turbine exhaust and the HRSG IP
superheater to the closed circuit steam cooling system that cools the gas turbine stage 1
and 2 hot gas path parts. The cooling steam is

Bucket steam cooling - in

later lead into the Vision 21 programme conceived to map out the DoE's R&D aspirations
for the new millennium.

IP / LP

Generator

Steam turbine

The benefit of closed loop steam cooling: comparison of the temperature drop of the combustion gas
stream across the first-stage nozzle for an F and an H System gas turbine. In the closed loop steam
cooled nozzle, the steam does not mix with the main flow stream and therefore does not dilute its
temperature, and so the flow stream temperature is only reduced by the effect of flow across the
cooled nozzle. With a temperature drop of only 45C (80F), the steam-cooled nozzle design can maintain
the same combustor exit temperature, and therefore the same NOx levels, and yet benefit from a 111C
(200F) increase in firing temperature over the F class machines

February 2004 Modern Power Systems

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UPDATE: ADVANCED GAS TURBINE TECHNOLOGY

is filtered prior to supply to the gas turbine. The
steam is delivered to the gas turbine stationary
parts through casing connections and to the
rotor through a rotating steam delivery system.
To further optimise the combined cycle efficiency and material selection, air extracted
from the compressor discharge is cooled using
water from the IP economiser. The cooled
cooling air is readmitted to the turbine and
compressor to cool compressor wheels and
selected gas path components. The energy extracted from the compressor discharge air is
returned to the steam cycle by generating
steam which is admitted to the IP drum.

9H HRSG
The immediate object of the Baglan Bay tests
is to confirm the performance of the 9H gas
turbine. The H System HRSG water chemistry
is consistent with other GE large combined
cycle systems, with no feedwater polishing required. A full flow condensate filter is implemented to remove any particulate.
No doubt a major factor in performance optimisation will be the effects of the blade cooling steam diversion on the HP steam heat,
exhaust mass flow and temperature characteristics of both the gas and steam turbines. The
HRSG has a reduced capacity reheat section
since the blade cooling steam will benefit from
the heat extracted in the turbine blades.
Control of the HP steam temperature is accomplished by a steam attemperation system.
This system eliminates the potential for contaminants to enter the steam as can occur with
attemperation
using
feed
water.
Attemperation steam is extracted after a single
pass through the superheater. The remaining
steam passes through the intermediate high
temperature section of the superheater. The
attemperation steam is mixed at the final superheater inlet to control the temperature of
the steam to the steam turbine.
In addition to supplying steam for main
steam attemperation, steam is extracted from
the HP superheater downstream of the first
pass for the start-up cooling steam supply to
the gas turbine and LP steam turbine.
Since supply of high purity steam to the
gas turbine is an essential requirement of
the system,
all gas turbine cooling steam is purified by
evaporation in a steam drum;
HP steam temperature is controlled by
steam attemperation (as already noted);
condensate is subject to full flow filtration;
piping in the HP and cooling steam supply
system upstream of the shutoff valves is either alloy or stainless steel or is covered
by the nitrogen blanket system to prevent
corrosion during standby periods;
a nitrogen blanketing system is used in
the HRSG;
non-corrosive materials are used in piping,
filters and equipment downstream of the
cooling steam shut off valves; and
full flow cooling steam filtration is used.
A start-up steam supply system is included,
which extracts steam from the HP superheater
after the first pass and mixes it with steam from
the superheater discharge to supply steam to
the cooling steam system at the required temperature. During start up the IP bypass valve
is modulated to maintain the pressure of the
cooling steam above the gas turbine compressor discharge pressure to preclude gas
leakage into the steam cycle.

20

Modern Power Systems February 2004

During gas turbine starting, acceleration to

rated speed, and operation at spinning reserve
load the gas turbine is cooled by air extracted
from the compressor discharge. The air is filtered prior to supply to the gas turbine. The
cooling air from the gas turbine is discharged
to the gas turbine exhaust. Shut-off valves isolate the cooling system from the steam cycle
while it is operating with air-cooling.

The vast HRSG at Baglan

Power and heat

Project financed by GE Capital and built by GE
on land leased from BP Chemicals Limited, the
Baglan Bay power station is being operated by
GE's European Operations & Maintenance
group and is providing electricity and steam
to the Baglan Energy Park and BP Chemicals'
Baglan isopropanol plant, with the remaining
electricity going to the UK national grid. The
power is being traded on the open market on
a merchant basis with the help of a trading
agreement with natural gas supplier Centrica
on an indexed basis.
In addition to the 9H system, the power station also includes a 33 MW combined heat and
power plant based on a GE LM2500 gas turbine.
It burns a mixture of natural gas and waste fuels
from the isopropanol plant including PPG and
"DIPE" and it supplies electricity, process heat,
demineralised and attemperated water and
process cooling to the chemical plant as well
as the Baglan Energy Park.
GE originally evaluated a two unit 1000 MWe
commercial power generation facility,
Fleetwood in Lancashire, to replace some of the
output of the decommissioned 2000 MWe
Pembroke power station. Before that an 1100
MWe plant with three 9F gas turbines and a single steam turbine, to be developed by Entergy,
was mooted. The area is currently a net importer
of electricity from England at great expense.
After the initial setbacks from the natural
gas moratorium in the late 1990s, the Blair government eventually conceded that one of two
9H units planned for commercial operation on
the Baglan site could be installed as a "research
project" to benefit industrial and social development in the area as long as it met the exclusion requirements of being able to supply
Blade cooling steam connections

heat as well as power and had black start facilities which would allow it to supply power
in the event of the loss of grid supply.
The combined cycle output of up to 530
MW of power achieved during test operation
is essentially twice the output of the 7FA. The
Frame 9H gas turbine which measures a mere
12m in length, has a diameter of 5m and
weighs 400 t which is very little bigger than
the 9FA plant. Compared to F technology
plants the H System gives about 45 per cent
more MW per square foot.

Japanese partners and projects

All future shipments for the H System will be
covered under a "risk and revenue sharing
agreement" signed by General Electric and
Toshiba of Japan in June 1998, and referred
to earlier.
Under this agreement, GE has H System integration and performance responsibility, and
will design and manufacture the H gas turbines and supply the integrated systems controls for the power train. Toshiba will
manufacture the GE-designed compressors,
along with Toshiba designed generators and
steam turbines.
GE has an order from Tokyo Electric Power
Company (TEPCO) to supply three 109H systems for TEPCO's Futsu thermal power station
Group 4 project in Japan. The combined output of the three systems will be 1520 MWe. MPS
Combustor connections