Firing up the Herdecke gas turbine
The gas turbine at the Herdecke power plant had its “First Fire” at the end of May. This was an important milestone, and marked the start of the test period (known as “hot commissioning”). Herdecke thus became the first of Statkraft’s gas-fired power projects to reach this milestone.
The gas-fired power plant in Herdecke, near Dortmund, is a 50-50 joint venture between Statkraft and the German energy company Mark-E.
“First Fire” involves starting the gas turbine and running it up to “neutral” operation. It marks the start of the operation of the gas turbine, and serves to verify that the gas supply, the gas processing, the control system and the start-up system all work together.
Other activities in the test period include acid-washing the boiler to protect it against corrosion, and then increasing the load on the gas turbine to test the generator and high voltage unit. During the summer, steam production will be started in the boiler and the installation will gradually start to generate electricity via both gas and steam turbines.
Towards the end of the summer, the final tests will be initiated to verify the guaranteed performance levels.
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URL: http://www.statkraft.com/pub/gaspower/reportasjer.first_fireasp