GE's Fuel-Efficient 6F Gas Turbine to Contribute in Doubling HPCL's Vizag Refinery Capacity

GE Power today announced that it has been selected by BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) for the supply of one 6F.03 gas turbine and a generator for installation at HPCL’s (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited) refinery at Vizag (Visakhapatnam) in India. The order, worth INR 220 crores, is part of the capacity expansion plan of HPCL refinery from the current 8.33 MMTPA to 15 MMTPA. The gas turbine will generate close to 60 megawatts (MW) of power to run the plant operations, while the exhaust steam energy generated will be used for process applications.
 
The HPCL Vizag order also marks the foray of GE’s F-class technology into India’s refinery segment, which offers a significant opportunity for technology upgrades in future. Delivering the heat rate improvement of more than 25 percent over the traditional Frame 5 machines, the 6F.03 gas turbine will bring significant cost benefit to HPCL in terms of fuel savings during the power plant operations.
 
“Globally, GE’s 6F-class gas turbines (6F.01/6F.03) are offering superior performance, reliability, and flexibility to our customers, typically associated with larger power plants. These machines are also a perfect replacement to the frame 5 and 6B gas turbines that are powering the refineries in India for more than a decade.” said Deepesh Nanda, CEO, Gas Power Systems, GE South Asia.
 
Well-suited for the O&G sector and embedded with GE’s robust DLN (Dry Low NOx) 2.6 combustion system, enabling lower emissions – less than 15 ppm NOx, the 6F.03 gas turbine ensures that the power plant stays compliant with the latest emission norms. The machine can generate up to 87 MW of power in simple cycle, and deliver more than 57% combined cycle efficiency. Additionally, the high exhaust energy from the turbine can be used for a wide range of CHP (Combined Heat and Power) needs in an industrial set-up and offers enhanced fuel flexibility - an ability to burn multiple fuel types like Syngas, Naptha, Natural Gas, LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and Arabian Super Light (ASL) crude oil. GE’s gas turbine fleet in the O&G sector in India comprises of an installed base of approximately 2.5 GW.
 
With the large and diversified installed base across 40 countries worldwide the 6F.03 gas turbines have registered more than 7.9 million operating hours with more than 140 units under operation.