OREANDA-NEWS. Alstom’s GT13E2 E-Class gas turbine1 has achieved a significant milestone by accumulating more than 10 million fired hours.

A total of 169 GT13E2 units have been sold to date in 34 countries. Of these units, 150 are in commercial operation, representing approximately 30GW of installed capacity (GT only2 ) and the remaining 19 units are ordered or under construction.

Since first operation in 1993, the GT13E2 has proven its class-leading efficiency and flexibility by producing reliable, competitively priced electricity across a wide range of applications – from simple and combined-cycle power plants to co-generation and industrial applications. The turbine has earned its position as the world’s most reliable heavy-duty gas turbine in its class for the 50 Hz market. It continues to achieve class-leading results for reliability, availability and maintenance, with reliability reaching 99.1% over a 5 year period.3

“Alstom is proud of the continued success of the GT13E2 gas turbine. Exceeding 10 million operating hours is demonstration of the turbine’s strengths in meeting customer needs across a wide range of applications”, says Steve Meszaros, Senior Vice President, Gas Business at Alstom. “Recent GT13E2 contracts re-affirm customers’ trust and confidence in both our product and after sales service,” he added.

The GT13E2 was the first gas turbine to offer a flexible switchable operation concept. The ability to switch online between two operating modes – one optimising performance, the other substantially extending standard inspection intervals, gives customers the ability to balance power demand and costs. The GT13E2 also offers outstanding fuel flexibility enabling the turbine to burn nearly every natural gas composition in the world, or alternatively switch to distillate fuel operation online, without having to reduce power output.

Since its introduction, the turbine has been continuously developed and improved, with new upgrades such as the GT13E2 MXL2 delivering up to double the service interval coupled with significantly higher output and efficiency compared to the earliest ratings. The latest developments in combustor technology now allow the GT13E2 gas turbine to operate seamlessly between 30% and 100% GT load, without infringing emissions regulations, thus providing customers with unrivalled operational flexibility.

Alstom has accumulated a huge wealth of experience on GT13E2 units operating in all kinds of applications and in all climatic conditions – from below -25°C in Russia to over +50°C in the Middle East. More than 350 GT13E2 C-Inspections have been performed by Alstom over the past 20 years.