Turbine technology |


Mochovce upgrade increases output by 450 GWh/y


Pilsen-based Doosan Skoda Power has recently completed extensive modernisation of steam turbine sets at the Mochovce 1 and 2 nuclear units in Slovakia, which provide about a quarter of the country’s electricity.


The upgrade has helped to increase the gross generating capacity of both of the VVER-440- based units to 500 MW, with all work carried out during the scheduled shutdown.


Each turbine set consists of one high-pressure and two low-pressure sections. Doosan Skoda Power ’s engineers replaced the entire high- pressure sections and low-pressure flow paths of both units, as well as upgrading hydraulic regulation and turbine control systems and repairing turbine valves and flaps. Power plant director Martin Mráz said modernisation of the turbines was a step towards increased reliability and lifetime extension, resulting in 450 GWh of additional output per year “without increasing fuel and


personnel costs and, in the upcoming years, reducing maintenance costs.” The Mochovce operator is Slovenské elektrárne, which also operates the Bohunice nuclear power plant as well as hydro, PV, and fossil-fuelled plants in Slovakia.


GE expands “Live Outage” offering to Europe and the Middle East


Following the 2021 implementation in the USA of a new “lean approach” to gas turbine outages, called “Live Outage”, which was developed with input from experts in field services and in lean methodology, GE and FieldCore (its field services subsidiary) is making this “innovative outage workflow” available


Above: Live Outage in action


for GE 9F gas turbines in Europe and in the Middle East. Initially launched at over eighty US power plants powered by GE 7F gas turbines, it “helped complete outages safely with a substantial reduction in cycle time”, says GE. Live Outage is described as a “system of digital applications, tools, sequencing, and other initiatives” to “transform outages through lean methodology”, says GE. The Live Outage application hosts the critical content and standard procedures that field crews need, all at the point of work. The weatherproof, touchscreen-based, digitised platform replaces the “antiquated, paper-based approach” and makes best practices scalable and reproducible at sites around the world. Further, the app tracks project progress in real time, with status bars for each of the hundreds of tasks that need to be completed, and, in the future, it will automatically generate daily project reports for teams and power plant operators.


“By using lean management and simplifying our procedures, we put information in the hands of those doing the work, with an increased focus on safety and quality. This marked a massive shift from previous field practices, leading to continuous improvements in safety, quality, delivery, and cycle time,” said Jeremiah Smedra, Value Stream Program Leader at FieldCore.


GE observes that “gas turbines have gaps between moving parts sometimes measuring less than the width of a human hair”, with hundreds of tasks needing “to be completed during an outage while maintaining the integrity of the units and the safety of the field service personnel.”


GE field crews were expected to complete more than 700 major


outage jobs in more than 60 countries in the course of 2022, each one lasting roughly two to six weeks, the company says.


GE and IHI look towards 100% ammonia


GE Gas Power has signed an MoU with IHI Corp to jointly develop ammonia combustion technologies for heavy duty gas turbines to generate electricity with reduced or near zero CO2


emissions.


The new MoU marks a significant milestone following the announcement in June 2021 of an


MoU between GE and IHI focused on carrying out an economic assessment of the use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel for both existing and new gas turbines.


As part of the new MoU, both parties will further define a technology roadmap to


20 | March 2023| www.modernpowersystems.com


develop gas turbine technologies by 2030 that will enable GE’s 6F.03, 7F and 9F gas turbines to fire up to 100% ammonia in a safe and commercially competitive manner, with potential implementation across additional gas turbines in the future.


Left and below: Mochovce site and view inside the turbine hall


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