OpFlex™ Turndown

OpFlex™ Turndown technology provides customers with GE's 7FA+e gas turbines greater flexibility in their operations. It's a software solution that optimizes the combustion process, extending low-emissions operation to lower load levels. Customers are able to reduce CO2 and NOx emissions, while decreasing fuel expenses and avoiding maintenance costs.

The environmental challenge

Within the last five to seven years, the U.S.’s power generation market changed significantly due to two main drivers. First, the price of natural gas rose, causing customers to reduce the use of their gas turbine power plants in favor of lower-cost coal-fired power plants. Second, the difference between electricity supply and demand, or reserve margin, increased significantly due to an over-build of gas turbines. This large reserve margin resulted in a reduction of operating hours for gas turbine power plants.

Due to the changing market dynamics and tightening emissions regulations, plants that were once only operating at base-load now need to operate across a wider load range, while still maintaining low NOx and CO emission levels.

GE's innovative solution

OpFlex™ Turndown technology allows 7FA+e gas turbine customers to have greater flexibility in their operations. This software solution optimizes the combustion process, extending the low-emissions operating range to lower load levels. It increases gas turbine turndown capability, enabling power generators to significantly reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions associated with low-load operation, while maintaining low NOx and CO emission levels.

Environmental impact

OpFlex™ Turndown significantly lowers the minimum operating load of GE's 7FA+e gas turbines. A typical customer operating a 7FA+e gas turbine at minimum load 9 percent of the time will save 4,200 tons of CO2 emissions per year, or the equivalent of taking 815 cars off U.S. roads per year by installing OpFlex™ Turndown.

Reducing costs

Customers turn down their gas turbine power plants to as low a load as possible when it is no longer profitable to sell electricity, but they wish to remain on-line to be able to react quickly to a new demand. Shutting down the plant eliminates the ability to capitalize on an upswing in electricity prices and incurs the maintenance costs associated with a new start-up cycle. Currently, minimum low-emissions operation is limited to approximately 50 percent of base-load. OpFlex™ Turndown extends stable, low-emissions combustor operation to much lower load levels, thus significantly reducing the fuel expenses necessary for customers to remain on-line, and greatly improving the economics for continued operation during off-peak periods.