EDF and General Electric (GE) today inaugurated the first ever natural gas combined-cycle plant equipped with GE’s 9HA turbine in Bouchain (French county Nord), attended by Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of EDF, and Steve Bolze, President and CEO of GE Power.
With a generating capability of more than 605MW, the 9HA turbine developed and produced by GE is the world’s most efficient gas turbine, achieving an efficiency rate during commissioning performance tests of up to 62.22%. These record-breaking efficiency levels have created the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plant in Bouchain, which was officially recognized today by Guinness World Records™. In addition, the 9HA is highly flexible and capable of reaching full power in less than 30 minutes. EDF and GE are the first companies to introduce such a flexible and energy efficient new turbine.
With such an optimized energy yield, the Bouchain combined cycle plant contributes to improving EDF’s carbon footprint, and plays a major role in the energy transition. Its CO2 emissions are reduced by approximately 55% compared to a standard thermal power plant. In addition, its considerable flexibility and responsiveness are major strengths that boost the power grid’s security on top of the development of renewable energy technologies.
This high-tech power plant comes as a result of the 45-year alliance between the two companies. Since the 1970s, GE has supplied EDF with close to 120 combustion turbines for its thermal power plants in France and worldwide.
The acquisition of Alstom’s Energy business by GE strengthens the collaboration between our two groups thanks to the historical partnership with EDF, and its close involvement in EDF’s power plants located in France. Moreover EDF and GE alliance to build the Bouchain combined cycle plant is innovative in that the two companies co-developed and designed the installation, bringing together their best practices as equipment supplier and utility.
Jean-Bernard Lévy, CEO of EDF, said: “By commissioning this new generation thermal plant, EDF demonstrates its intent to apply the best available technologies on the market to make its French thermal power plants more energy efficient while supporting the energy transition. This also confirms EDF’s innovation pledge under the CAP 2030 program”.
Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Power, said: “Today we are making history with this power plant for the future. We are thrilled to be acknowledged by Guinness World Records for powering the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plant, and we are also very proud of the industry-leading flexibility and reliability this turbine provides to our customers. We look forward to continuing to work with EDF and providing services to ensure the on-going high performance of the Bouchain plant in the years to come.”
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