A 340 MW gas turbine, claimed as the world’s largest and most powerful, is on its way to a test facility in Irsching near Ingolstadt in Germany’s Bavaria.
The Siemens SGT5-8000H turbine is 13m long, 5m high, and weighs more than 440 tonnes. It is currently being transported via barge from the manufacturing site in Huttenstrasse in Berlin to an experimental power plant being developed in cooperation with E.ON.
Following the initial test phase the gas turbine will be extended to a 530 MW combined cycle plant with a maximum efficiency of over 60%. The 2% improvement on the previous best efficiency of 58% is expected to reduce CO2 emissions in Irsching by approximately 40,000 tonnes annually.
Siemens is investing a total of approximately €550 million in machine development, and construction, financing and validation of the power plant. First firing of the new turbine is scheduled for November 2007 and the plant will be taken over by E.ON Kraftwerke in 2011.
The new gas turbine will set benchmarks in terms of output, efficiency, life-cycle costs, emissions and operational flexibility, says Siemens, adding that its air cooling allows the blades and vanes to handle temperatures of almost 1,500 oC.