Feeling Validated

Ansaldo Energia said its H-class gas turbine type GT36 has successfully completed the first phase of a comprehensive validation program at the Birr test power plant in Switzerland. The test power plant is a full-scale simple-cycle power station, built in 2015/2016, that can be used for the operation and validation of fully instrumented engines under real power plant conditions because the power is dispatched to the Swiss power grid.
Ansaldo Energia said that the tests fully confirmed the high performance, low emissions over the entire load range, and very wide operation window of this engine.
The reported test results for the GT36-S6 (60 Hz rating) confirmed a power output above 340 MW at 41% efficiency. In combined cycle, this corresponds to performance exceeding 500 MW at 61.3% net efficiency in ISO conditions and 720 MW at 61.5% efficiency for the GT36-S5 (the 50Hz scaled version).
The test program included stress testing of the two stages of the sequential combustion system, part and full load mapping, transient operation and performance testing. The validation engine is equipped with more than 3000 measurement points, including a telemetry system which transfers more than 500 measurements from the rotating parts.
Full engine validation is an integral part of the development of Ansaldo Energia’s new turbine. The thorough validation process includes design validation with engineering tools, component validation, full engine validation and, finally, field monitoring.
The combustion system of the GT36 has been tested since 2013 as single component in a combustor test rig, at full size and under full massflow, at the DLR (the German Aerospace Center) in Cologne.