Turbine Technology Services Corporation has launched a new tool to improve power plants' flexibility.
The new offering, called Fast Start, is a “tailored solution to plant operators” to meet demand for increased flexibility “with their existing gas turbines” the company said.
By using the program, “the power plant can now change output rapidly, start and stop with short notice and achieve a low minimum turn-down level, enabling any gas turbine model to reach full load for power generation in a few minutes” it explained.
“The technical advancements” of this new system “are comprised of a series of incremental improvements/modifications to the gas turbines’ hardware and control software to allow the unit to start within a defined amount of time, typically under ten minutes” TTS' vice president of sales, Pat Begley told Gas to Power Journal.
“This capability has become more important as renewables have become more prevalent and disruptive to the stability of domestic power grids, therefore backup power sources are required to be available very quickly” Begley said.
“The main benefit of achieving 'Fast Start' status is that the plant is likely to be dispatched more frequently from a 'standby' condition” and “can eliminate a requirement to have units operating in an inefficient 'spinning reserve' operating mode” Begley also explained.
“ In the former case, the opportunity to be dispatched more often ensures better use of an expensive asset” the vice president of sales said, while “in the latter case, the ability to eliminate inefficient operational time reduces fuel use and wear and tear on the spinning reserve unit.”