ENERCON completed an evaluation and report to refurbish, retrofit, and upgrade three (3) GE MS 7001B turbines (‘60s and ‘70s vintages) for a major utility client. The evaluation involved on-site inspections of the turbine, compressor, and generator, along with unit auxiliary equipment. ENERCON provided a summary report to evaluate the liabilities for each of the units based on continued operation without addressing the reliability, aging, starting cycles, thermal wear, and obsolescence concerns with the machines. For each turbine component or auxiliary component evaluation of the condition, recommendations for remedy, total cost, and estimated schedule (while considering outage timelines) was provided.
ENERCON was also the engineering partner for gas turbine refurbishment projects with another major utility. The project objective was to refurbish and/or replace three (3) W501F gas turbine-generator components, WDPF turbine control system, turbine auxiliaries, and balance of plant systems to render these units capable of operating safely and reliably. Once upgraded, the units’ maintenance cycles for compression, injection, and hot gas path major components were restored to original design basis or improved intervals. After the turbine refurbishment and control system upgrades, the highly reliable facility now operates at 99.7% dispatch availability and is one of the flagship peaking facilities for the utility’s simple cycle generation fleet.
The two projects briefly mentioned above illustrate ENERCON’s recent and relevant experience with evaluations and refurbishment projects on gas turbines. ENERCON’s team is comprised of subject matter experts and engineers that are intimately familiar with all the major OEM turbine-generators and their auxiliary systems. This team has prepared multiple feasibility studies for large power utilities, and is familiar with the requirements to take an integrated controls upgrade project from conception through implementation. ENERCON’s team is very familiar with engineering evaluations on vintage gas turbines and auxiliaries as well as the process and required deliverables to identify and bound the scope, schedule, and budget for the FEP stages of the project.
