On 30 April, 2018, the combined cycle gas and steam power plant with the highest net efficiency worldwide went into operation in Pakistan. In the design, the plant operator applied H-class gas turbines of the type 9HA.01 for the first time in Pakistan. Lahmeyer engineers conducted a precise analysis of the turbines
Since February 2015, Lahmeyer and the consulting firm National Engineering Services Pakistan (Pvt) Limited (NESPAK) have been cooperating in the development of electric power generation capacity in the densely populated province of Punjab. The Electricity consumption in the region accounts for 68% of the total national consumption, and the province contains 60 % of Pakistan
The engineering company Lahmeyer supports NESPAK and two public project companies in the implementation of the three gas and steam combined cycle power plants Balloki, Haveli Bahadur Shah and Bhikki. In close cooperation, the specialists from Lahmeyer and NESPAK carried out the preliminary design of the project from project specification tendering to the assessment of proposals within only seven months.
Short implementation period and high net efficiency
The major challenge of this project, in addition to the high fuel prices (liquid gas), was the short implementation period. The single-cycle phase should be completed within 18 months (first plant) and the combined-cycle phase within 27 months, respectively. This time schedule and the new performance figures of the Chinese EPC contractors stipulating an efficiency of between 61-63 % were quite ambitious. To meet these objectives, Lahmeyer and NESPAK decided to equip all three projects with GE H-class gas turbines, model 9HA.01
Especially with the Haveli power plant, which was requested to achieve the highest net efficiency rate, the potential of the state-of-the-art gas turbines had to be investigated in detail. Lahmeyer analysed the compressor
Lahmeyer meets challenging requirements
In July 2017, all six H-class gas turbines at the three sites were subjected to the first firing tests. Four turbines started commercial operation directly afterwards. Within the second quarter of 2018, all three power plants went into full commercial operation. Thus, Lahmeyer met both the tight implementation schedule and the demand for the high efficiency rate.
Promising future development of H-class gas turbines
Additional measures announced by the manufacturers of H-class gas turbines make it possible to achieve a further increase in efficiency of over 63 % for future combined cycle power plants. In addition, the gas turbine capacity will increase, electricity consumption will drop and the EPC implementation period will be reduced. Pakistan effectively promotes the development of electricity production on the basis of regasified liquid gases. Advanced gas turbines will be of significance in this regard. The new project Jhang, which is being worked on in the same constellation with NESPAK, was recently also awarded to Lahmeyer. In this project, H-class gas turbines from Siemens are used.