GE upgrades Greek power plant

GE has completed an upgrade at Elpedison S.A.’s Thessaloniki Power Plant in Greece, which includes a GE 9F.03 gas turbine and a Franco Tosi-supplied steam turbine.

GE said it also installed digital solutions to help increase the plant’s output by over 20 MW and reduce its start-up costs by 10%. An additional important achievement is the increased efficiency of the power plant with decreased fuel consumption and emissions, the company said. The project supports Greece’s plans for transition towards lower-carbon power generation and highlights GE’s commitment to supporting power plant operators in their energy transition efforts to increase electricity production capacity with more efficient gas technologies.

GE announces the successful completion of Elpedison’s Thessaloniki power plant modernization in Greece.

“A number of factors drive the growth of the energy sector of Greece; primarily, the required improvement of the energy mix, the liberalization of the electricity and natural gas markets as well as the efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce the costs and infrastructure development,” said Silvio Jean, director of Elpedison Power Generation. “As the first independent energy producer in Greece, it is important for us to increase our competitiveness in the power segment by extending the life of our plants and providing the best service to our users. By using the latest GE technology, we will also significantly lower emissions, by improving our heat rate by almost 2% and lower our minimum load, reducing our cost’s structure and providing value to the environment and to our clients.”

GE installed its DLN 2.6+ combustor system, its OpFlex software solution and its Advanced Gas Path (AGP) technology on its 9F gas turbine. In addition, GE increased the agility on the plant’s Franco Tosi steam turbine with a replacement of its HP/IP rotor with a new configuration supporting an operating profile in line with the new energy needs. These engineering enhancements will reduce the impact of degradation that naturally occurs with time on the rotor components and improve their lifespan, GE said.

In addition, the project included GE Digital’s Operations Performance Management (OPM) software solution. Enabled by secure edge-to-cloud technology, OPM will analyze Thessaloniki’s plant historical performance and operations to monitor and diagnose possible issues, improve capacity planning, and drive improved efficiency, flexibility, capacity and emissions.

“Greece’s recovery plan proposes investments and reforms that support climate objectives providing an opportunity to progress with longer-term emissions reduction,” said Steven Miller, services leader for GE Gas Power Europe. “Pursuing initiatives that support sustainable increases in efficiency and increasing the share of natural gas and renewable energy in the energy mix would contribute to the country’s energy transition goals.

“With this project, the Thessaloniki Power Plant will see an increase in power output and flexibility, improved efficiency, extended asset lifetime as well as significant savings on fuel costs in line with the energy sector reform that Greece is currently implementing.”

The project was completed during a gas turbine major overhaul by FieldCore, the field services execution team owned by GE.