Townsville Power Station Gas Turbine Modernisation
Townsville, QLD
A recent modernisation of a new blading system on a Siemens gas turbine at the Yabulu power plant in Townsville, North Queensland, represents a world-first application and increases power efficiency in the Queensland mine by a huge 12.7 megawatts for the owner, Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund.
The increased capacity will assist the 234 MW combined cycle power station to meet growing energy needs in Queensland.
A shutdown in operations late last year for a major outage inspection, provided Siemens with a world first opportunity to equip the gas turbine which powers the plant, with a complete new set of rotating and static turbine blades, known as Si3D blades.
Siemens vice president of energy, David Pryke, said the upgrade increased energy output by 12.7 MW, which is equivalent to powering approximately 2,300 homes.
“We also increased the efficiency of the gas turbine by 1.49 percent which will reduce the level of greenhouse emissions, as the more efficient a power plant is the greater the reduction in emissions,” he said.
“During the outage, Siemens removed the gas turbine rotor, casings and combustion system from the building, debladed four rows of rotating and stationary power turbine blades and replaced them with new Si3D blades. Si3D blades offer greater power output and efficiency due to improved blade geometry, cooling, thermal barrier coatings and the use of an improved nickel-based super alloy.