The deregulation of the Japanese power and gas market has caused a shift in the energy landscape and conjured up fierce competition between incumbent energy provider and market entrants. Independent power producers like JFE Steel are rushing to modernize their existing power plants to optimize operations and reduce fuel costs.
“The industry competition is intense, with a lower barrier to entry for new power generation players,” said Satoshi Ogino, manager in the Energy Technology Section of JFE’s East Japan Works. He singled out GE as “best partner to work with to expand the business opportunity for JFE.”
Follow-up order
For GE, the latest order win for a HE upgrade of a Chiba gas turbine comes on the heels of an similar upgrade at the Chiba power plant. Two years ago, the American manufacturer carried out a MXL2 gas turbine upgrade at a GT26 (former Alstom) turbine installed at Chiba, effectively increasing its output by up to 60 MW.
This year, the operator JFE Steel opted for GE’s latest GT26 HE technology to further improve the plant’s efficiency, increase output and improve part-load efficiency. The HE-upgrade will increase the plant’s output by 10 MW, while raising efficiency by more than 1% to similar levels as a F-class combined cycle gas turbine.
The technology behind the GT26 HE upgrade, first introduced in 2019, is partly derived from GE’s flagship HA gas turbine as well as breakthroughs on major component of the GT26 frame—turbine, compressor and combustor. Combined, these enhancements “take turbine performance to a new level,” GE claims, decrease fuel costs while increasing full-load output and reliability.