Siemens Energy has received orders for a total of 20 SGT-800 industrial gas turbines from Thailand. The turbines will be used in various combined cycle cogeneration power plants within the country.
The contract is part of the Thai government’s program to support small power producers. The end customers are the Thai independent power producers Amata B.Grimm Power Limited (ABP), which ordered 10 turbines, SSUT Co. Ltd. & PPTC Co. Ltd. (six turbines), and IRPC Clean Power Co. Ltd.(four turbines).
Each of the units sold has a capacity of 50.5 megawatts (MW), so the combined total capacity of the 20 gas turbines is over 1,000 MW. Siemens delivers also five industrial steam turbines of type SST-400 for the customer ABP. Including installation and commissioning, the order value for Siemens is over €300m.
“Siemens already obtained orders in 2010 and 2011 for 20 industrial gas turbines from Thailand. Since that time, 18 of these turbines have already gone into commercial operation,” said Thierry Toupin, CEO of the Business Unit Gas Turbines/Generators at Siemens Energy. “All of these turbines were able to meet or even exceed the contractually promised values in terms of capacity and efficiency. This success was a decisive factor in the Thai small power producers opting once again for Siemens’ SGT-800 gas turbines.”
“With the Siemens SGT-800 gas turbines, we are able to generate electricity very efficiently, allowing us to decrease our fuel consumption,” explained Khun Preeyanart Soontornwata, President of ABP. “As a result, we can reduce our costs per kilowatt-hour generated.”
The 20 Siemens SGT-800 industrial gas turbines will be used in ten different plants located in industrial parks. Most of the power plants are located within an approximately 200-kilometer radius of Bangkok, Thailand’s capital. For some of the gas turbines, Siemens will also be delivering chiller coils to enable approximately 10 MWel greater power plant output. All of the 20 units are being manufactured at the Siemens plant in Finspong, Sweden.
The order is part of the third phase of the Thai government’s program to support small-scale electricity producers. The amount of support provided depends on the amount of primary energy saved by the plants. A requirement to receive the subsidy is that at least five percent of the thermal energy produced in the power plants in the form of steam or hot water be made available to consumers in the industrial sector. This increases the fuel utilisation rate of the entire power plant.
The Siemens SGT-800 industrial gas turbine combines a reliable robust design with high efficiency and low emissions. The turbine offers broad flexibility in fuels, operation conditions, maintenance concepts, package solutions and ratings. The SGT-800 turbine is suitable for power generation or cogeneration in simple or combined cycle modes. The latest upgrading with an increase of its electrical capacity by 3 MW to 50.5 MW was achieved by optimising compressor performance as well as turbine aerodynamics and cooling air layout. The fleet leader with the new rating went into commercial operation in June 2011 and has now passed 20,000 hours.
A robust dry low emissions (DLE) combustion system reduces nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions to a minimum. This was a key to success in the Thai small power producer market, which specifies DLE emissions systems as part of the technical plant specification and therefor as relevant for the awarding of the contract.
