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10.01.2008 
The first ignition of the world’s largest gas turbine is approaching: On Thursday the turbine will be put into operation for the first time, at the test power plant in Irsching, near Ingolstadt. The 444-ton colossus is the first of a new generation of power plants from Siemens that produce electricity with even greater efficiency, and therefore more environmentally friendly operation, than has been possible in the past. The turbine has an output of 340 megawatts — equal to that of 13 jumbo-jet engines, and a single turbine blade takes up the power of ten Porsche 911 engines.
With a subsequent boost to 530 megawatts, in combination with a downstream steam turbine, the turbine is expected to reach a world-record efficiency of more than 60 percent. Such a combined cycle power plant could supply enough power to meet the needs of a city with three million residents. The two-percentage-point increase in efficiency — 58 percent has been the maximum to date — reduces CO 2 emissions by about 40,000 tons per year. This volume of emissions is equivalent to the exhaust that would be produced by almost 10,000 VW Golfs if each vehicle were driven 20,000 kilometers annually.
In a combined cycle plant, the gas turbine is powered by a hot mixture of gas and air that flows through it. Then, the exhaust heats water, which becomes the steam to power a steam turbine. Generators convert the mechanical energy into electricity. The key to the high efficiency is the extremely high combustion- and exhaust-gas temperatures. At the first turbine ring, the temperatures climb to well over 1,500 degrees Celsius, which is nearly hot enough to melt iron.
And the design of the turbine blades also plays a very important role. This is why the Siemens power plant specialists developed new, high-strength materials for turbine blades that can withstand high temperatures, as well as new burner and combustion chamber technologies. The new turbine offers very flexible operation. It has a shorter warm-up time than previous models and makes faster load changes possible, thanks to its totally air-based cooling technology. Air is always immediately available, in contrast to the much more complex steam cooling process.
The new turbine was built in 22 months at a plant in Berlin. The turbine was transported to Irsching in the summer by ship, before completing the last kilometers of the journey overnight on a specially equipped truck. More than 500 employees contributed to its development. Plans call for the turbine to now undergo extensive testing for 18 months under conditions encountered in everyday operation, before being expanded into a combined cycle plant and turned over to the customer E.ON Energie in 2011.
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