Lodi, California Gets Cutting Edge Rapid-Start Siemens Turbines

California’s first natural-gas plant to make use of Siemens rapid-start technology that reduces CO2 emissions broke ground in Lodi this month. A small utility, the Northern California Power Agency started building a $375 million, 280 MW natural gas combined-cycle plant that is able to ramp up to capacity quickly in responses to changes in load on both the supply and demand sides.

The technology is 57% efficient, using a power train that uses a gas-fired turbine at the front end to generate electricity, but then reuses waste heat from the gas turbine to produce steam that is run through a steam turbine at the back-end to generate more electricity.

Fast-start technology addresses CO2 emissions. The start-up period when a gas plant is fired up is responsible for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions while turbines are warming up. Normally that takes up to an hour. Siemens fast-start technology reduces start-up time to 20 minutes, which reduces emissions.
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