GE has introduced its FlexEfficiency 50 Combined Cycle Power Plant, which the company says will enhance the integration of renewable resources into the power grid by rapidly ramping up and down in response to fluctuations in solar and wind power.
The plant, designed at 510 MW, will ramp up at a rate of more than 50 MW per minute, the company says. This level of operational flexibility will enable utilities to deliver power quickly when it is needed and to ramp down when it is not, helping to deploy additional wind power.
‘For years, we have been working to develop technology that can, in the same breath, deliver breakthrough efficiency and deal head-on with the challenge of grid variability caused by wind and solar,’ says Paul Browning, vice president of thermal products for GE Power & Water. ‘The need for combined flexibility and efficiency is even more pressing today as countries around the world establish new emissions standards.’
