GE’s H System* Gas Turbine Hits Project Milestone In Japan

GE Energy’s first commercial H System gas turbine has achieved first firing at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Futtsu Thermal Power Station. TEPCO Futtsu is the first commercial site for GE’s most advanced, gas turbine combined-cycle system.

Futtsu Thermal Power Station will feature three H Systems, each including GE Energy’s 9H gas turbine along with a steam turbine and generator provided by Toshiba under an agreement with GE. The three combined-cycle blocks will enter commercial operation between 2008 and 2010, with a total output of 1,520 megawatts.

“This successful milestone of unit 1 for the Futtsu project is a key step in the commercial development of our H System gas turbine,” said Steve Bolze, vice president-power generation for GE Energy. “It is also the latest chapter in an on-going relationship with TEPCO, which has been implementing our technology for many years.”

With a total production of 60 gigawatts, TEPCO is one of the largest utilities in the world, and is one of GE’s largest customers. Other TEPCO sites utilizing GE Energy’s gas turbine combined-cycle technology include Yokohama, Chiba and Shinagawa.

Futtsu Thermal Power Station marks the second location where GE Energy’s H System gas turbine will be in operation. The world’s first 50-hertz 9H combined-cycle system entered service in 2003 at Baglan Bay in South Wales, and has surpassed 26,500 operating hours. The first 60-hertz project is the Inland Empire Energy Center in California, scheduled to begin service in 2008.
H System gas turbine

The H System gas turbine integrates a gas turbine, steam turbine and heat recovery steam generator into GE Energy’s most advanced gas turbine combined-cycle system. The technology features an innovative closed-loop steam cooling system that allows the turbine to fire at higher temperatures, enabling higher efficiency, reduced emissions and less fuel consumption per megawatt of power generated.

The H System gas turbine is the industry’s first combined-cycle system designed with the capability to achieve 60 percent thermal efficiency, an industry milestone. It also offers 40 percent improvement in power density per installed megawatt compared to other combined-cycle systems, reducing the overall cost of producing electricity.

The H system gas turbine is capable of producing 87,000 fewer metric tons of greenhouse gases per year, when compared to a typical gas turbine combined-cycle plant generating an equivalent amount of electricity. The H System gas turbine is ecomagination certified, a GE product-line certification based on operating and environmental performance.

* H System gas turbine is a trademark of the General Electric Company.
About GE Energy

GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2006 revenue of $19 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE’s corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges.
For more information, contact:

Cynthia Mahoney White
GE Energy
+1 518 385 5892
cynthiam.white@ge.com

Ken Darling or Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
+1 518 786 6488
kenneth.darling@ge.com
howard.masto@ge.com