The 1.8GW Guernsey Power Station in Ohio, US, was jointly developed by Caithness Energy and Apex Power Group with an investment of $1.6bn.
Construction on the combined-cycle natural gas electric generating facility began in August 2019 and the plant became operational in June 2023.
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The plant can produce electricity enough to meet the needs of approximately 1.4 million homes. It generates efficient, adaptable, and dependable power to ensure grid stability and facilitates the energy transition in Ohio.
The project created 300 direct and indirect jobs during construction.
Location of the Guernsey Power Station
The Guernsey Power Station is constructed in the Valley Township area of Guernsey County. It is located in the heart of Ohio’s Utica and Marcellus shale gas development region.
Guernsey Power Station details
The Guernsey Power Station is installed with three GE 7HA.02 gas turbines operating in a single-shaft combined-cycle configuration connected to three W84 generators. It also has three STF-A 650 steam turbines and three GE triple-pressure reheating heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) turbines.
The plant utilises dry air cooling, which reduces water consumption by up to 95% compared to a conventional water-cooled plant. It is also installed with supplemental duct firing, state-of-the-art selective catalytic reduction technology for reducing NOx emissions and an oxidation catalyst for reducing carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOC).
The project benefits from direct access to a high-quality, long-term supply of clean-burning natural gas from Utica and the Marcellus shale plays, in addition to the presence of direct overhead electrical transmission infrastructure.
The power plant is capable of operating on hydrogen fuel. Caithness intends to convert the plant into 100% hydrogen by the mid-2030s.
7HA gas turbine details
GE’s 7HA gas turbine features the company’s H-Class gas turbine technology, which is one of the industry’s most responsive and adaptable technologies. The turbines can generate 438MW in combined-cycle mode with an efficiency of 64%. It has also achieved 50Hz and 60Hz combined-cycle efficiency records.
The turbine can go from idle to full load in just ten minutes and has a new setup that makes it easier to install and maintain. Its increased fuel flexibility allows for the utilisation of a wide variety of gases such as shale gas, high ethane, and hydrogen (H₂), as well as liquid fuels such as diesel or crude oil.
Financing
Caithness Energy secured $1.6bn in financing for the project, including a $950m construction and five-year senior term loan, a $125m revolving credit facility, and more than $600m of equity in September 2019.
Investec Bank, BlackRock, and AMP Capital provided the financing.
Contractors involved
Gemma Power Systems, an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Argan, was selected as the EPC contractor for the plant.
Baker Concrete Construction, a company specialising in commercial and industrial construction, was also involved in the construction of the Guernsey power station.
The design engineer of the power station is POWER Engineers, a US-based consulting engineering company.
SMC Infrastructure Solutions, a telecommunications company, was awarded the contract for installing security systems, access control and security cameras at the Guernsey Power Station in March 2020.
GE, a diversified technology company, was awarded the contract to supply three single-shaft power trains powered by 7HA.02 gas-fuelled turbines for the project in September 2019.
The contract also includes a 20-year services agreement and provision of digital solutions, including cloud-based predictive analytics, through GE Digital’s asset performance management (APM) software powered by SmartSignal. APM reliability can help anticipate asset failure scenarios and minimise unplanned outages while increasing plant efficiency and reliability.
