8 January 2004 - The first Frame 6C gas turbine from GE Energy (formerly GE Power Systems) has successfully completed full-speed, no-load testing at the company's Belfort facility.

Key tests, involving more than 500 sensors placed on the equipment, included rotor dynamic characterization, turbine aeromechanics and compressor performance.
Introduced last year, the Frame 6C brings the high efficiency and performance of GE's advanced gas turbine technology into the 40 MW class.

"The Frame 6C represents the flowback of a new technology platform into the 40-megawatt segment and allows us to offer the best heavy duty gas turbine technology in this output range. We are pleased with the successful results of the full-speed, no-load tests and look forward to the shipment of the first 6C," said Mark Little, vice president of products for GE Energy.

The first two Frame 6C gas turbines are scheduled to be shipped from the Belfort plant in the first quarter of 2004, for installation at a new combined-cycle facility in Kemalpasa-Izmir, Turkey. The plant is being constructed by Akenerji of Istanbul, a leading electricity producer in Turkey, and will generate nearly 120 MW of power when it enters service in the first quarter of 2005.

The Frame 6C gas turbine builds on the experience and performance of GE's Frame 6B technology, proven in more than 40 millions hours of service. The new machine also incorporates fuel flexibility, reliability/availability and maintenance features from the GE fleet of F technology gas turbines, which has surpassed eight million hours of operation worldwide.

The Frame 6C offers simple-cycle efficiency of 36.3 per cent with an output of 42.3 MW. Optimized for heat recovery operations, it can achieve up to 54.4 per cent efficiency and 126.7 MW of output in a GE 206C (two gas turbines, two heat recovery boilers, one steam turbine) configuration. The new gas turbine will limit NOx emissions to 15 ppm when operating on natural gas.

With its high efficiency and reliability, the Frame 6C is designed for cost-of-electricity effectiveness. Key applications for the new machine will be industrial cogeneration, process industries, municipalities (district heating), combined heat and power, and mid-sized combined-cycle projects.

In addition to the two Frame 6C machines for the project in Turkey, GE is supplying one steam turbine-generator, two heat recovery steam generators, a distributed control system, center line erection services, performance and emissions testing, and on-site training. This is the latest in a series of power plant projects for GE in Turkey; to date, 32 GE-technology heavy duty gas turbines have been installed or ordered for projects in the country.