TurboTime Podcast: Part 2: Top Challenges with Aero-Turbines with ProEnergy

In the second episode of the TurboTime podcast on aeroderivative gas turbines, Paul DiMascio, VP of Engineering at ProEnergy, talks about the top challenges associated with aeroderivative gas turbines.

“Aeroderivative turbines are designed to be easy to remove from an airliner and be replaced so that they can be serviced at a depot somewhere else," DeMasico said. "And the reason for that is you make money while the airliner is flying; you don't make money while the airliner isn't flying. You don't make money when it's on the ground. So that leads people using an aeroderivative engine as a peaker to think in terms of, well, they take it off the wing, fix it, and put it back on the wing, so we should do the same thing. We'll take it out of the package or out of the power plant, put a spare engine in, and send it to the depot to get it fixed. But that means your power plant has to have a spare engine available, and this increases your capital cost, as that engine isn't doing anything for you while it's sitting in the warehouse waiting for the next engine to break.

“Another issue is because of the reliability of the aero-engine core, these engines are frequently limited in their availability and reliability by the accessory systems of the power plant,” he continued. “So, if the lube oil system or the cooling system or any part of the support structure of the power plant fails, then the engine is no longer available. So, you have to adjust your thinking in terms of designing the power plant to make sure that all the support structure of the plant is also as reliable as the aero engine is.”

“And that’s another part of the equation: If people just build a box that they put the aero engine in and then connect it to the grid, they don't realize that sometimes the engine won't be able to start. Not because the engine is bad but because your fuel supply is compromised, or your cooling system is compromised, or water delivery is no longer available. And those little details make a big difference in availability.”