On May 17, following around two years of construction, an official opening ceremony saw the Irsching 5 gas fired combined cycle power plant near Ingolstadt put into operation. The owner of the new plant is GKI (Gemeinschaftskraftwerke Irsching GmbH), a project company consisting of E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH, N-ERGIE AG, Mainova AG and HEAG Südhessische Energie AG.
E.ON Kraftwerke is responsible for plant operation. The 847 MW(net) plant was built by Siemens as a turnkey project. Thanks to its advanced F-class gas turbine technology and the quadruple-flow low-pressure steam turbine, this plant is capable of an efficiency level of more than 59.5 per cent. “With its high efficiency level, and the associated extremely low emissions, along with its short startup times, this plant sets new standards for this performance class,” said Michael Suess, CEO of the Fossil Power Generation Division of Siemens Energy.
The new generation island consists of two SGT5-4000F gas turbines and one SST5-5000 steam turbine, three hydrogen-cooled generators and electrical systems and the SPPA-T3000 I&C system from Siemens. Other modern features of the plant include the state-of-the-art burner technology installed at the plant to keep NOx emissions at an extremely low level (<15 ppm), and its high spec ramp-up ramp down capability. Irsching 5 is designed for 250 starts annually. The plant reaches its full output in only 30 to 40 minutes, allowing it to meet the more stringent grid requirements with regard to the integration of wind power.