largest gas engine in the worls article
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WORLDS LARGEST
AS EOPENS UP TH
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4.10 Twentyfour7. 41
With the launch o the Wrtsil 18V50SG gas engine, Wrtsil now has two high-output,highly ef cient prime movers when entering the market or large-scale power generation.
GINMARKET FOR 500 MW POWER PLANTS
The first Wrtsil 50SG
under construction at
Wrtsils manuacturing
acilities in Trieste, Italy.
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42 Twentyfour7. 4.10
he new Wrtsil 18V50SG is the worlds largest
gas-powered generating set and is ideally suited
or use in locations where a constant supply o
gas is assured. On the other hand, when gas sup-
ies cannot be guaranteed under all circumstances, thepl
al-uel Wrtsil 50DF is the right choice.d
Te new Wrtsil 50SG is a our-stroke, spark-ignited gas
gine operating on the Otto cycle and incorporating thee
an-burn principle. It has been designed using the provenle
s technology used in the smaller Wrtsil 34SG engine.g
n important eature o this new gas engine in WrtsilsA
rtolio is its exceptionally high power plant net electricalp
ciency rating - more than 50% in combined-cycle mode.e
With an output o some 18 MW, the Wrtsil 50SG is thergest gas engine in the world, saysla Tomas Hgglund
ice President, Power Plants echnology at Wrtsil. WithV
o these units operating in combined-cycle mode, you2
t an output o almost 500 MW, a large power plant. Weg
e now oering a competitive and ef cient solution orar
wer plants with baseload outputs o up to 500 MW, thusp
mpeting directly with gas-turbine-based technology.c
TRENDS ARE FAVOURING
GAS-POWERED UNITS
e rst Wrtsil 50SG installation will be commissioned
2011 at the Aksa Samsun power plant in Samsun, ur-in
y, as part o an extension to the existing power plant.k
rtsil has a strong presence in urkeys energy mar-
t, and expects to have delivered close to 3 GW o powerk
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.. .
enerating capacity by the end o 2011. O the power plants
delivered to date, 85% run on natural gas.
urkey is a very important market or us and will
remain so. It is one o the locations where power produc-
tion using gas is expanding, says Hgglund. With a total
net electrical ef ciency o more than 50%, our new gas
engine is a product or all global markets. Wrtsils gas-
red power plant solutions have previously been compet-
itive or acilities with outputs o up to 300 MW. With the
Wrtsil 50SG we are extending that competitiveness to
plants larger than 500 MW.
While the ratio between power plant installations that
use gas and those that use oil varies in a cyclical manner,
the overall long-term trend is that gas is gaining ground asa uel or power generation, and this is also true in emerg-
ing markets. Many o the HFO (heavy uel oil) power plants
being built today have been designed rom the start with
the possibility o switching to gas in the uture.
DUAL-FUEL TECHNOLOGY WHEN
GAS SUPPLIES ARE LESS RELIABLE
In the long run, the Wrtsil 18V50SG gas-red engine
will replace the Wrtsil 18V50DF dual-uel engine in large
power plants, says Hgglund. Even so, or special applica-
tions and in certain circumstances, the dual-uel solution is
the right choice or gas-red power plants, even though the
SG engine design oers higher levels o ef ciency.
Te dual-uel or tri-uel Wrtsil 50DF engine is a spe-
cial product that oers power plant o ners considerable
The Wrtsil 50SG combines high levels o e ciency
with low levels o emissions. This is achieved by using
a lean gas mixture in the combustion chamber.
In a lean-burn gas engine, the word lean is used
to indicate that more air is present in the combustion
chamber than is needed or complete combustion o
the gas. Lean combustion reduces peak temperatures
and the quantities o nitrogen oxides (NOX) produced
are also lower. The higher the air-uel ratio, the lower
the temperature.
In the Wrtsil 50SG, the air-uel ratio is kept very
high and e cient premixing o the uel and air keeps
it uniorm throughout the combustion chamber.
Maintaining the correct air-uel ratio under all
conditions is essential. In the 50SG, an exhaust-gas
wastegate valve is used to adjust this. By using thevalve to control the proportion o the exhaust gas that
bypasses the engine turbocharger, the air-uel ratio is
kept at the correct value regardless o load conditions.
To achieve the highest e ciency and lowest
emissions, each cylinder in the engine is individually
controlled by the Engine Control System (ECS) to
ensure that both the air-uel ratio and the ignition
timing are correct. Stable and well-controlled
combustion is guaranteed by a high-energy ignition
system located in the precombustion chamber.
LEAN-BURN WITH
LOW EMISSIONS
The first Wrtsil 50SG installation will be commissioned
in 2011.
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uel fexibility. A good example is the large 300 MWe power
plant in Sangachal, Azerbaijan which began operating in
2008. Te plant is equipped with 18 generating sets, eachlo them powered by an 18-cylinder Wrtsil 50DF engine
delivering 17 MW.
Sangachal is a real success, says Hgglund. Te plant
is primarily designed to run on natural gas, but gas sup-
plies during the winter cannot always be guaranteed. I
there is a supply problem, the engines can be switched over
to HFO, and they can also use light uel oil. Power output
is the same with all three uels.
GAS POWER NEEDED
TO BACK-UP WINDPOWER
Among the gas engines in our portolio, the largest vol-
ume product is the Wrtsil 34SG, says Hgglund. Sales
have grown signicantly in the last 5-6 years, and Wrt-
sil now has a strong presence in the baseload sector,
where gas-red plants provide grid stability, backing-up
the expanding production o electricity rom wind energy.
Tis is especially true in the US.
In the US, where the level o installed windpower
capacity is growing rapidly, Wrtsil has now delivered
approximately 1 GW o gas-red plants as backup gener-
ating capacity and or grid stability, he says. Tese grid-
connected power plants typically have a maximum output
o 100-200 MW, and the latest ones can achieve ull output
in just ve minutes. I wind speeds suddenly drop, com-
pensating power has to be ed into the system quickly to
prevent the grid becoming unstable.
Wrtsil gas engines also have both high total ef ciency
and high partial ef ciency, providing the high levels ooperational exibility required or windpower backup
applications. Gas-red reciprocating engine technology
is the only solution that can deliver the rapid starts and
stops required when backing-up windpower generating
acilities, says Hgglund. Wrtsil has now installed some
45 GW o power plants in 166 countries.
W RTSIL GAS ENGINES
AVE BOTH HIGH TOTAL
EFFICIENCY AND HIGH
PARTIAL EFFICIENCY.
44 Twentyfour7. 4.10
Development o lean-burn, spark-ignited, Otto cycle gas
engines started in 1992, and the first Wrtsil SG gas
engine design was released in 1995.
The use o gas engines or combined heat and power
generation (CHP) started in the late 1990s, says Thomas
Hgglund, Vice President, Power Plants Technology at
Wrtsil. Larger gas engines were soon developed. By
using 20 cylinders, the maximum output o the 34SG
engine was raised rom 8 MW to 10 MW. The Wrtsil 34SG
has become Wrtsils most successul gas-fired engine
design.
The dual-uel Wrtsil 50DF was originally developed
or the marine sector and has now been on the market or
about 10 years. A tri-uel version able to run on natural
gas, light uel oil or HFO was introduced in 2007.
In marine applications, the Wrtsil 50DF engine
has been a great success - the uel flexibility it ofers isespecially valuable or LNG carriers, says Hgglund. On
an outward journey, when the vessel has a cargo o LNG, it
can use that uel to power its engines. Ater the LNG has
been o oaded, the carrier can run on cheaper HFO.
Demand or dual-uel solutions or land-based power
production has emerged during the last ten years. The
first Wrtsil 50DF or installation in a power plant was
delivered to Turkey in 2004 and can run on either HFO
or natural gas. The first tri-uel Wrtsil 50DF engine
delivered by Wrtsil or a power plant is operating at the
Sangachal power plant in Azerbaijan.
MORE THAN A MILLION RUNNING HOURS
The first Wrtsil 50DF engines used or marine propulsion
were started up in October 2006. More than a hundredhave now been commissioned and are powering vessels
world-wide. The hardest-working have completed a total o
more than 20,000 running hours.
The first Wrtsil 50DF to be used in a power plant
application was started up in March 2005. Approximately
40 Wrtsil 50DF engines are now being used to generate
electricity in land-based locations, and some have
completed a total o more than 36,000 running hours.
The grand total or all Wrtsil 50DF engines in
operation now exceeds one million running hours.
DUAL-FUEL ENGINES NOW IN
LAND-BASED APPLICATIONS
A high-output, high ef ciency engine or large-scale power
generation. This image shows the first Wrtsil 50SG under
construction at Wrtsils manuacturing acilities in Trieste, Italy.