GE Oil & Gas Scoops Global R&D Award For Steam Turbine Technology

Florence, Italy And Seville, Spain - GE Oil & Gas' advanced steam turbine technology has won CSP Today's Best Applied Research and Development Award for innovation in concentrated solar power (CSP). The awards ceremony was organized in conjunction with the 3rd EU Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Summit, which took place in Seville, Spain.

GE Oil & Gas steam turbine technology was selected by an expert panel of judges from world-leading organizations within the concentrated solar power and energy industry. GE was selected due to continuous innovation in steam turbine engineering design and its critical role in helping countries and operators meet renewable energy production objectives.

Claudi Santiago, president and CEO, GE Oil & Gas said, "We are delighted to have won this award in recognition of our pioneering Innovation Now technology leadership in the concentrated solar power industry. GE's advanced steam turbine technology is playing an important role in several highly successful concentrated solar power projects in Spain. The award is a tremendous accolade from industry peers and well-deserved recognition for our superb team of engineers."

Specifically, GE is developing more robust steam turbines to improve the overall efficiency and reliability of parabolic-trough and solar tower-mirrored CSP plants. This is particularly important because CSP plants shut down when the sun sets and restart when the sun rises. Consequently, CSP steam turbines must be able to withstand a wide steam-flow range and extremely high number of start-up/shut-down cycles—10 times the number in traditional turbine applications.

In addition to the challenging mechanical design of the machine, the market also requires high values of efficiency comparable to large electricity production plants. The advanced mechanical design of GE Oil & Gas steam turbines enables CSP customers to benefit from all of these capabilities in one single solution.

Since 2007, GE's steam turbine technology has powered Abengoa S.A.'s 11-MW, PS10 plant in Seville, representing Europe's largest power tower CSP facility. GE's technology is also supporting several other CSP projects in Spain, including Acciona Energy's Palma Del Rio I and II plants and several new plants under construction throughout the Murcia region.

SOURCE: GE Oil & Gas