WEEHAWKEN, NJ--February 13, 2013: After covering more than 30,000 miles, GE's FlexEfficiency* Truck Tour, showcasing the power generation technology of tomorrow, will make its 27th and final stop Wednesday, Feb. 13 in Weehawken, N.J., across the Hudson River from New York City.
“We are happy to be involved in a project that will provide cleaner, more efficient and reliable power to the northern New Jersey grid, while bringing employment and new revenue to Newark”
"Our North American FlexEfficiency Truck Tour has been a tremendous success, with more than 4,000 people visiting the trailer to learn how the latest innovation in power generation will meet today's energy challenges while driving economic growth," said Paul Browning, president and CEO, Thermal Products for GE Power & Water. "It is especially fitting that we are concluding our tour in New Jersey, since our new FlexEfficiency technology will support a major project that will add cleaner, flexible and highly efficient energy for this region."
The Newark Energy Center, a 655-megawatt gas-fired combined-cycle power plant, will use GE 7F 5-series gas turbines, which are members of the FlexEfficiency 60 portfolio. Scheduled to begin service in 2015, the facility will be one of the cleanest of its kind in the United States, thanks to its use of natural gas and advanced emissions control technology.
"We are happy to be involved in a project that will provide cleaner, more efficient and reliable power to the northern New Jersey grid, while bringing employment and new revenue to Newark," said Scott Thon, executive vice president, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company for the Newark project. SNC-Lavalin has a long history of working with GE F-class gas turbines, having installed 70 such units at power plants around the world.
This custom-built, 18-wheel FlexEfficiency tractor-trailer, loaded with interactive, innovative exhibits and demonstrations of GE's newest technology, was unveiled Sept. 26 during a global launch event in San Francisco. During its five-month tour, it has showcased the key features and benefits of FlexEfficiency 60 technology for customers, engineering students, media representatives, industry analysts, GE employees and members of the general public who have visited the trailer.
Built for the United States and other 60-hertz countries, GE's new FlexEfficiency 60 Portfolio of products addresses the emerging need for flexible, efficient technology capable of providing electricity with record-setting efficiency. The strong global demand for this new technology has resulted in more than $1.5 billion in orders from the U.S., Japan and Saudi Arabia. These sales comprise orders for 22 gas turbines--16 for the 7F 5-series gas turbines and six for the 7F 7-series gas turbines.
GE's FlexEfficiency portfolio of gas turbines can provide highly efficient baseload power and unprecedented flexibility to pair natural gas with renewables. This natural gas-fired technology can rapidly increase its power output in response to fluctuations in wind and solar power, which will enable more renewable resources to be integrated onto the power grid.
"We believe that the FlexEfficiency 60 Portfolio represents the cornerstone of America's energy future and can help build a cleaner and sustainable energy infrastructure," Browning said. "Renewable energy resources such as wind and solar offer an exciting opportunity to develop new ways to meet the country's power needs. But when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, we need other sources of energy. As an abundant and cleaner fossil fuel, natural gas fits nicely into today's energy equation. FlexEfficiency 60 technology is the most efficient, flexible natural gas technology available in the power industry today."
GE will build the FlexEfficiency 60 Portfolio of products in the United States for shipment around the globe. The gas turbines within this American-made portfolio will be built and fully validated in GE's Greenville, S.C., facility. Steam turbines and generators will be manufactured in Schenectady, N.Y., and controls in Salem, Va.
An ecomagination*-qualified product configured to take on some of the world's toughest environmental challenges, a FlexEfficiency 60 Combined Cycle Power Plant will avoid 2.6 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year when compared to an equal sized coal power plant1. This emissions reduction is equivalent to a half million U.S. drivers trading in their cars for bicycles.
1 Typical coal plant based on U.S. EPA data.