First U.S. Sale of Advanced Turbine Technology Marks Success of Government-Industry Partnership

Richardson Touts Upcoming Debut of Breakthrough Power Plant in Upstate New York

The "turbine of the 21st century" will likely make its U.S. commercial debut in a new $400 million, state-of-the-art power plant in upstate New York as the result of a plan announced today by Sithe Energies and General Electric (GE) at the State University of New York at Oswego.

Sithe Energies, one of the nation's largest independent power producers, will become a partner with GE in the first U.S. commercial application of the "breakthrough" gas turbine technology if all goes well in the final stage of an 8-year partnership program between the U.S. Department of Energy and GE.

Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson today sent congratulatory messages to GE and Sithe for their agreement to site the world's cleanest and most efficient power generating turbine at a new power plant in Scriba, NY, near Oswego. The plan was announced by Sithe and GE at a community ceremony today at State University of New York at Oswego.

The 800-megawatt natural gas-fueled power project will use GE's H System^TM gas turbine combined cycle technology, the first use of the new technology in a U.S. power plant.

The advanced energy system is in its final phase of development in a program begun by the Energy Department in 1992. Scheduled for its major verification test run later this year, the turbine incorporates revolutionary advances that will enable it to generate electricity more efficiently and with better environmental performance than any turbine available today.

"The GE advanced turbine system will rank high on the list of 'success stories' produced by our technology partnerships with industry," Secretary Richardson said. "Innovations from this program have already improved today's fleet of turbines. Now, this new agreement between GE and Sithe means that we are on the verge of moving an entirely new generation of technology into the market with the promise of even greater environmental and efficiency benefits."

The new turbine system is expected to produce less than half the nitrogen oxides - a pollutant that contributes to smog, harmful ozone, and acid rain - than current utility-scale turbines. Its higher efficiencies will also cut emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, by more than 20% compared to turbines available when the development program began.

"This breakthrough technology was greatly aided by the Department of Energy's participation and support," said Delbert Williamson, President of GE Power Systems Global Sales. "The government made a major commitment to this effort and organized a national program to ensure that the United States would remain the global leader in 21st century turbine technology."

The GE turbine technology is one of two high-performance, utility-scale turbine systems that will emerge from the Energy Department's advanced turbine program. It and a companion technology being developed by Siemens-Westinghouse will be the first capable of breaking the 60% 'net efficiency' barrier, long regarded as the 'four minute mile' of the turbine power industry. The achievement means future power plants will use less fuel to produce the same amount of power, enabling electricity to be produced at lower costs.

"Sithe Energies is excited to incorporate this landmark technology into our newest power facility in Scriba," said Barry Sullivan, Sithe vice chairman. "Combining GE's cutting-edge turbine technology with other advanced environmental control systems makes our new plant among the cleanest and most efficient energy facilities in the world."

Sithe Energies, headquartered in New York City, operates 40 plants in the northeast totaling over 11,000 megawatts of capacity.

Two of the new GE turbines are planned for installation at Sithe's Heritage Station at Scriba, where the company already operates the 1,040-megawatt Independence Station. Sithe will begin the permitting process by submitting a final application to the State of New York this fall. Construction would begin in the last quarter of 2000 with operations and testing expected to begin late in 2002. The project could create as many as 1,000 new construction jobs.

To help develop the advanced turbines, the Energy Department organized a national program in 1992 involving the nation's major turbine developers, inhouse researchers at its Federal Energy Technology Center, and experts from the Oak Ridge (TN) National Laboratory and a consortium that now includes more than 90 of the nation's top engineering universities.

From the original six gas turbine manufacturers that received grants to prepare preliminary "scoping studies," the Energy Department ultimately narrowed the program to two utility-scale turbine and two industrial-scale systems.

During the development effort, major innovations were made in turbine designs, cooling systems, and materials that allowed turbine temperatures to be pushed to more than 2,600 degrees F, well above the capabilities of any previous system. The higher operating temperatures are one of the reasons for the turbine's significant boost in efficiency.

- End of TechLine -

For more information, contact:
Robert C. Porter, DOE Office of Fossil Energy, (202) 586-6503, e-mail: robert.porter@hq.doe.gov

Otis Mills, Jr., DOE Federal Energy Technology Center, (412) 386-5890, e-mail: mills@fetc.doe.gov

Technical program contact:
Abbie Layne, DOE Federal Energy Technology Center, (304) 285-4603, e-mail: alayne@fetc.doe.gov
or
Kanwal Mahajan, DOE Federal Energy Technology Center, (304) 285-4965, e-mail: kmahaj@fetc.doe.gov