Rolls-Royce RB211 Continues Its Market
Success
LONDON, May 30 The Rolls-Royce industrial RB211 gas
turbine is continuing its success in the power generation sector, with new
contracts and operational achievements.
The industrial RB211 is derived from one of the world's most successful
aero engines, which has now achieved around 45 million hours in service.
There are now 370 industrial RB211s serving the energy sector with more
than 11 million hours of service. Rolls-Royce was the first company to put an
aero-derivative low emissions gas turbine into commercial service and Dry Low
Emissions engines now account for 750,000 hours of the total service figure.
In power generation, the 25-31MW RB211 is now recognised as a significant
product for combined heat and power and combined cycle project developers.
Its high mass flow results in very competitive thermal efficiencies.
The RB211 generating set design provides capital equipment and
installation cost benefits through a common design feature. The package is
made up of standard modules: driver, generator, auxiliaries, air intake and
control system. This concept allows the major systems to be factory tested,
leading to reduced site installation time and cost. The standard design keeps
production costs and up-front engineering to a minimum, both contributing to
competitive equipment costs.
Rolls-Royce was recently selected to provide a turnkey CHP plant at the
Port of Liverpool in the UK for Powergen CHP. The plant, featuring an RB211
DLE, will produce 30MW and 75 tonnes of steam per hour for the Mersey Docks
and Harbour Company and food company Cargill.
The power will be purchased by Mersey Docks for distribution throughout
nearly 2,000 acres of dockland, while the steam will be purchased by Cargill
for use in its rapeseed processing plant and refinery and soya bean crushing
plant and refinery, three kilometres from the dock. The 30 million pounds
sterling facility will go into operation in 2002.
John Gaskell, President -- Energy for Rolls-Royce, said: "This is the
latest example of customers turning to the industrial RB211 for the best in
performance and cost-effective power. We will take responsibility for all the
engineering, procurement and construction elements. In addition we provide
customers with an EPC and maintenance capability backed with guarantees, as
well as engine leasing."
Other industrial RB211 projects are progressing well:
Rolls-Royce has a 30 million pounds contract with Electricidade de
Portugal (EDP), the national power company of Portugal, to build a CHP power
station at the Petrobras Fertiliser factory site at Fafen in the state of
Bahia, Brazil featuring two RB211 DLE gas turbines.
The first generator set package was recently delivered to site on
schedule. The complex will be in full production in early 2002 but will meet
some of Petrobras's requirements in 2001 through a staged commissioning
programme.
The contract also marks the first time Rolls-Royce gas turbines will be
used by an electrical utility in Brazil. EDP's local Brazilian company
Energen will operate the plant, which will supply power and steam to the
Petrobras facility and to other local industrial users.
Each of the two RB211 units will fire a heat recovery steam generator for
the production of steam and also a steam turbine to produce extra power.
The project is part of the Brazilian government's "Thermal Electrical
Programme" -- promoting the installation of thermal plant to supplement hydro-
power when water levels are low.
Rolls-Royce is developing a series of southern European power projects
featuring the RB211. One has been supplied to Abener Energia S.A. of Seville,
Spain for a cogeneration project in Carrico, north of Lisbon in Portugal.
The cogeneration station is being built by GDP Energia and EDP Cogeracao,
the Portuguese gas and electricity supply companies. Abener Energia was
GDP/EDP's main contractor on the site. The electricity will be sold to the
national grid, with the exhaust heat being used as part of the process to
extract salt from a solution taken from a gas storage cavern.
Another RB211 DLE generation set is being provided for Abener's ethanol
production plant at Curtis in Galicia, north-west Spain. Here, the exhaust
heat will be used in the process producing ethanol for use as a fuel additive.
Elsewhere in Spain, an RB211 is in operation at the Ertisa petrochemical
plant at Huelva south of Seville, producing electricity and steam for Spanish
group CEPSA.
In Turkey, Rolls-Royce and Bilkent Holding formed a joint venture to
build, own and operate an RB211-powered 36MW cogeneration facility at Bilkent
University in Ankara. The plant, which added to an existing 4MW Bilenerji
power facility, has now achieved almost 10,000 hours of operation, providing
efficient electricity and process steam/hot water to the university and other
Bilkent manufacturing plants.
In Argentina, Rolls-Royce is making rapid progress on a $12 million RB211
contract to provide power at the world's most southerly city Ushuaia, the main
port to service Antarctica.
The contract was won at the turn of the year and an RB211 has been
delivered to site within five months, ready for installation. The power
station, in the state of Tierra del Fuego, will be run by electricity utility
Direccion Provincial de Energia. The equipment is due to go into service this
summer.
The RB211 at Ushuaia will provide 27MW and run on gas and liquid fuel.
The contract includes supply of a gas compressor, spares and supervision of
installation and commissioning. Packaging took place at the Rolls-Royce
facility in Liverpool, UK.
This unit will be added to existing equipment at the station, providing
increased power, more reliably, to meet the needs of a growing population and
tourist industry.
Two RB211s are bringing much needed electricity to the town of Samarinda,
in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, and the surrounding area. The combined cycle
station, built under a full turnkey contract with client, Indonesian power
utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) (PLN)provides 60MW of stable base
load to the local grid. The plant is maintained by Rolls-Royce under a follow
on contract, and is achieving excellent availability levels. The generating
sets have accumulated more than 50,000 running hours.
Rolls-Royce plc is a global company providing power on land, sea and air.
The company has established leading positions in civil aerospace, defence,
marine and energy markets. The company is investing in new products and
capabilities for energy markets which include the oil and gas industry and
power generation. It also develops its own power projects through Rolls-Royce
Power Ventures Ltd.
