7 January 2009 - In the context of a contract with GDF Suez worth nearly €250m ($335m) for the construction of a new thermal power plant, GE Energy is delivering its 9FB gas turbine, having the world's most advanced cool air technology, and a type A15 steam turbine.

Located in Montoir-de-Bretagne, in Loire Atlantique, the new combined-cycle plant will be commissioned in 2010 and will supply about 250 000 homes.

Manufactured at GE Energy's Belfort site, its European headquarters and Worldwide Centre of Excellence, and the only producer of medium- and high-powered gas turbines in France, the 9FB is the most advanced gas turbine in the world and represents the latest class F technology.

It boasts over 25m hours of operation worldwide and delivers an energy yield of over 58 per cent. This turbine is produced for electricity networks with 50 hz frequency, that of France's RTE network.

The delivery of the 9FB in France represents a historic step in the supply of electricity to French homes. "The 9FB is a technology which has already proved itself on the international market and which we are now happy to market for the first time in France", said Richard Cordoba, President of GE Energy, Western Europe and North Africa.

Towed by a lorry that was specially designed for wide, heavy loads, the gas turbine was transported to the independent port of Strasbourg. Having been placed on a barge, the turbine left for the port of Antwerp where it was loaded onto a cargo boat bound for Saint-Nazaire, only a few hundred metres from the Montoir de Bretagne site.

So this was some 310 metric tonnes, ten metres long, five metres wide and five metres high, which needed a journey of three weeks under close supervision.

Under construction since 2007, the new combined cycle power plant at Montoir-de-Bretagne will be operational in 2010. With a generating capacity of 430 MW, it will supply the electricity for the south of Brittany.

"The advanced technology of the 9FB gas turbine delivers a high yield for minimal generating costs and so guarantees the new GDF Suez plant optimum operation", said Yves Menat, Managing Director of GE Energy at Belfort.

In fact, the natural gas supply system contributes to the overall reliability of the local electricity network while at the same time meeting environmental standards.