Alstom to upgrade Western Australias largest gas-fired power station

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Alstom has been awarded a contract worth over 20 million (A$30 million) by NewGen Power Kwinana Pty Ltd to upgrade the 320MW combined-cycle Kwinana power station, south of Perth in Western Australia. The contract also incorporates an extension of the existing Long Term Parts Agreement (LTPA) to 2028.

The Alstom GT13E2 gas turbine will be retrofitted with the multi-mode MXL2 upgrade package, which offers increased power output, substantial improvements to operational efficiency and enhanced availability through increased maintenance intervals.

The Kwinana power station, originally supplied and commissioned by Alstom in 2008, will be the first gas turbine unit in the region to be upgraded with this state-of-the-art technology, providing a more fuel efficient machine to compete in a market that has seen gas prices increase significantly since the plant was commissioned.

The GT13E2 MXL2 upgrade features Alstoms unique online switching concept, allowing operators to choose between two operational modes for maximum power and efficiency, or for extended lifetime. In Kwinana, the upgrade will deliver an additional 7 MW of power and up to 1% combined cycle plant efficiency increase whilst also extending the time between scheduled outages from 36,000 Equivalent Operating Hours (EOH) to 48,000 EOH (approximately 6 years) contributing to significantly lower operating costs.

The upgrade will take place in late 2015 during a scheduled C inspection of the turbine. Under the contract, Alstom will provide all engineering, supervisory and labour staff to complete the implementation and service outage, which includes inspections on the steam turbine and two generators.

The MXL2 upgrade at Kwinana will offer significant improvements in efficiency and performance while providing NewGen with greater flexibility when operating their plant, said Russell Claxton, Managing Director of Alstom Thermal Service in Australia and New Zealand. This upgrade will ensure that the plant is well placed to support the dynamic market conditions of the power industry today, along with the flexibility to address market developments in the future.

The MXL2 upgrade technology was launched during the GT13E2 Users Conference in Australia in 2012 and has since been applied in upgrades to Alstoms fleet of GT13E2 Gas turbines in Europe and the Middle East. This will be the first upgrade of its type in the Asia-Pacific region.