The 223 MW Voronezh Power Plant is owned by Quadra Power Generation, one of Russia’s largest territorial generating companies and was commissioned in 1933.

The new power unit is expected to decrease emissions, as well as increase the total power plant’s reliability and efficiency to support the gradual decommissioning of the technically obsolete equipment present at the old plant.

Evgeny Zhadovets, chief engineer of Quadra – Power Generation, said: “This power plant provides heat and power to more than half of Voronezh city’s residential buildings, as well as industrial and social facilities. It is extremely important that the new combined-cycle power unit of the Voronezh CHPP-1 will allow us to reach new heights in the reliability of the city’s heat supply, increasing electric power output by 50 percent and improving energy efficiency.”

GE’s LM6000 aeroderivative technology provides greater flexibility through its fast-start capability and an advanced cooling system allows extension of the turbine’s life cycle. This system lowers the high-pressure compressor inlet temperature, which in turn effectively lowers the compressor discharge temperature.

The SPRINT module is also equipped with a DLE combustion system providing fuel flexibility and reducing emissions. In addition, as part of the project, GE supplied a modular, multi-stage static air filter unit equipped with an anti-freeze protection system, which will support the reliable operation of gas turbines in winter conditions.

“GE’s aeroderivative gas turbine technology has already demonstrated its reliability and efficiency — up to 42 percent in simple cycle and up to 56 percent in combined cycle — at energy facilities in Russia,” said Michael Rechsteiner, CEO of GE Gas Power in Europe. “We are honored to collaborate with Quadra – Power Generation in improving the key energy infrastructure of the city of Voronezh, inhabited by more than 1 million people.”