Middletown, OH: 475MW Combined Cycle Power Plant

(Satellite, this plant that was completed in 2018 has yet to show up on the image)

This post (photo 2) caught my eye because it shows a couple of cranes with luffer jibs parked in the jackknife position. But then I learned more about gas fueled power plants.

Stephen Randolph posted three photos with the comment: "888 luffer Middletown OH. Combined cycle unit."

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2

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When I saw "combined cycle," I decided to dig deeper because I remember that NIPSCO's 2016 plan was going to use that technology to replace their coal-fired plants. (Their current plan is to use renewable energy sources.) [DeBruler-NIPSCO] Combined-cycle power plants use a gas turbine to drive a generator. Then they use the exhaust from the GT to produce steam to power a steam turbine that helps drive the generator. [MHPS, Layout tab] So the BTUs of burning the gas is used twice. [DeBruler-combined] Natural gas is particularly cheap in eastern Ohio because of fraking the Marcellus Shale.

MiddleTownEnergyCenter
The Middletown Energy Center is a 475 megawatt natural-gas-fired electric generating facility that began commercial operation in May 2018. NTE Energy developed, constructed and commissioned into operation the $500 million ($600m according to journal-news, $645m according to PowerMag) power plant....Opened in May 2018, MEC is one of the cleanest, most efficient natural gas power plants in the nation. Using advanced turbine technology in a combined-cycle configuration, MEC is capable of producing significantly more power from the same amount of fuel.  That’s a win for regional customers and for the environment.

NAES
It consists of a single Mitsubishi 501GAC combustion turbine with a Toshiba steam turbine and a Vogt HRSG [Heat Recovery Steam Generators].

Since just one gas turbine runs that plant, they are obviously much bigger than a jet engine. Specifically, it is 12.9 meters (42.3 feet) long. And the turbine rotates much slower than a jet engine. I was able to confirm that they rotate at 3,600 rpm. That means they don't need any gear reduction equipment. The efficiency of the GT is 40%. By adding the second stage of steam generation, the efficiency of the plant is over 60%. You can tell that the GT part can also be used as a peaking plant because they specify a ramp up rate of 18 MW/min for a starting time of 30 minutes. The GT uses variable vanes so that it remains efficient under partial loads. But the plant needs to be shutdown if the load falls below 50%. (I presume that is what the "Turn Down Load" means.) [MHPS, Specifications tab]

They have a special "Fast" model that can ramp up to 270 MW in 10 minutes. [amer.mhps]

MHPS-G

MHPS-G

Their J series is even bigger.

MHPS-J

MHPS-J

Gemma
The design engineer was Sargent & Lundy.

The bad news is that the plant needs 2.1 million gallons per day. The good news is that it can use the output of a wastwater treatment system. [journal-news]