Together with the Chinese EPC contractor SEPCOIII, Siemens is carrying out the conversion of the Az Zour South 3 power plant from open-cycle to combined-cycle mode. The plant, operated by Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity & Water, will have 263MW more generating capacity, once the upgrade is competed in mid-2019.
Az Zour South-3 began operating in 2015 as an open cycle plant, based on two SGT4-5000F gas turbines. For the plant units 1 and 2, Siemens supplied a total of eight SGT5-2000E gas turbines and two SST5-4000 steam turbines.
Now, Siemens is supplying an SST-800 steam turbine (high pressure) combined with an SST-500 steam turbine (low pressure) and a SGen1200A generator for this stage of the upgrade.
After the steam turbine expansion, the hot waste gases of the gas turbines will be used to produce steam which will feed the turbo set. This will increase the plant’s total capacity without any additional gas consumption and will boost its efficiency significantly.
Jeffrey Dunlap, head of sales for Middle East & North Africa at Siemens PG calls the SST-800 a cost-effective and highly efficient solution for power plant upgrades. “With more than 263 MW, the additional capacity is outstanding for a non-reheat process,” he said. The latest project in Kuwait, in his view, highlights the flexibility and individuality of such steam turbine expansions.
SEPCOIII head of procurement, Wang Jianming added: “Siemens has supported us strongly in winning this important contract and we are confident that this project will be a success story.”
The Chinese engineering, procurement and construction contractor has already used Siemens’ steam turbines for three solar thermal power plants in Morocco – notably the oor II project which runs based on a combination of the SST-800 and SST-500.