Development of the Heritage Station power plant - GE's proposed flagship for the US 'H' system turbine - has been cancelled owing to difficult market conditions and changes in the energy markets.
Development of the Heritage Station power plant – the ‘Heritage Project’ – near Oswego, NewYork, USA, has been cancelled ‘owing to difficult market conditions and changes in the energy markets’. The project, which had all major regulatory approvals, was delayed last December with the goal of resuming this spring. Dramatic changes in the energy markets – linked to the national economic condition – render the project economically non-viable at this time, according to GE Power Systems and partner Sithe Energies.
Originally announced in September of 1999, the Heritage project was scheduled to be the domestic launch of GE’s ‘H’ system gas turbine, and the first 60 Hz model.
Some of the community benefits anticipated as a result of this project will continue despite the cancellation of Heritage. While funding was originally linked to the construction of Heritage, GE and Sithe felt strongly that the projects were important to the community and should still receive funding. A $500,000 donation will be provided to help fund two community projects: a long-awaited municipal bathhouse needed to keep open the county’s Sandy Island Beach Park, and the Scriba sewer line extension project along Route 1A.
GE remains firmly committed to the US introduction of the H System, which is designed to be the first of its kind to break the 60 per cent thermal efficiency barrier, the industry’s equivalent of the four-minute-mile.This was to have been the third site for the ‘H’ system, of which much is expected. The first is the Baglan Bay, Wales, project, where startup and testing of the system are scheduled for this summer. The second will likely be the TEPCO Futtso power station project, where GE will supply three 109H CC systems including MS9001H turbines as part of a deal with TEPCO to design and build a 1520 MW advanced technology power plant, due to go commercial in mid-2008.