EDF And GE Energy To Co-Develop Next-Generation Combined Cycle Gas Turbine

EDF and GE Energy have signed a partnership agreement to co-develop the first next-generation combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) featuring GE Energy’s FlexEfficiency 50 technology.

This combined cycle gas turbine, due to begin production in 2015, will have an installed capacity of 510 MW providing electricity to an equivalent of 600 000 French households. This new technology will achieve 61% efficiency and reach maximum load in less than 30 minutes. More flexible and more effective, this CCGT will help respond to an increasing fluctuation in production needs, in an environment which is seeing more and more highly intermittent renewable energy solutions being introduced into the French electric system.

This new technology also offers good environmental performances, with 10% lower CO2 emissions than those of a traditional CCGT on average.

This project is part of the modernisation of the EDF group’s fleet of thermal power plants, and contributes to the ambition set by the Group to target an installed capacity of 200 GW by 2020, with a diversified energy mix made up of 25% of fossil-fired energy. EDF’s industrial strategy is based on mastering the most competitive technologies whilst at the same time maintaining a wide range of suppliers to develop international projects and replace the fuel oil fleet in France by 2023.

This project will also create new jobs in France. The new CCGT will be built on EDF’s Bouchain site in the North of France, and will thus help to extend the life of an existing EDF site that currently houses a coal fired plant, which is due to cease production in 2015. It will contribute to the economic vitality of the Bouchain region, as well as the Belfort area, with the turbine being built in GE Energy’s Belfort factories.

The construction of this CCGT is part of a broader strategic partnership between EDF and GE Energy that includes a section dedicated to engineer training as well as innovative projects looking at energy efficiency. This new partnership will help both companies consolidate their already strong links: over the last 40 years, GE Energy has provided the EDF Group with some 120 combustion turbines for its thermal power plants in France and around the world.

Ricardo Cordoba, Regional President & CEO GE Energy: “This project illustrates perfectly the mutual benefits of a long-term partnership with a world-renowned architect-assembler such as EDF. This new co-development project for the FlexEfficiency 50 plant demonstrates the continuity and relevance of our shared capacity for innovation. It also consolidates GE Energy’s leading position in France as the country’s only manufacturer of medium and high power gas turbines, with its European Headquarters located in Belfort and employing more than 2,000 people.”

Henri Proglio, Chairman and CEO of EDF: “The signing of this strategic partnership marks a new chapter in the industrial story of fossil-fuelled power generation, shared by GE Energy and EDF for nearly 40 years. The implementation of this cutting-edge combined cycle gas turbine is a testimony to the current modernisation of EDF’s fossil-fired plants and the Group’s commitment to innovation. It also consolidates EDF’s position as the benchmark architect-assembler in the international electricity market.”