60% combined cycle efficiency at 85% load

Electricite de France (EDF) and GE recently announced plans to jointly develop the first FlexEfficiency 50 plant to be connected to a national grid. The combined-cycle plant will be located at Bouchain, an existing EDF power plant site in northern France, and will produce 510 megawatts.

This EDF plant, scheduled to be GE's first operational FlexEfficiency example when it opens in 2015, is expected to achieve more than 61 percent efficiency at base load, based on GE test data. The turbine will be built at a GE manufacturing facility in Belfort, France.

GE's FlexEfficiency 50 plant includes: a next-generation 9FB Gas Turbine, a 109D-14 Steam Turbine that runs on the waste heat produced by the gas turbine, an advanced W28 Generator, a Mark Vle control system and a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG).

"The FlexEfficiency 50 plant will allow us to improve supply side energy efficiency and reach emission reduction challenges," said Ricardo Cordoba, regional president and CEO of GE Energy.

According to Ricardo Cordoba, regional president and CEO of GE Energy, the FlexEfficiency 50 plant will be able to transition from a dead stop to full load in 28 minutes. Part load efficiency better than 60% can be maintained down to 85% load.

With this announcement GE is attempting to differentiate itself from Siemens who were the first to announce 60% combined-cycle efficiency at its demonstration plant in Irsching, Germany.