During 2009, S&W Energy Solutions, Inc., of Houston, Texas, was awarded an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contract to build a 132 MW combined cycle power station near the Port of Takoradi, Republic of Ghana, West Africa.
The plant will utilize four gas turbine generators manufactured by Zorya-Mashproekt of the Ukraine and a single Shin Nippon steam turbine generator set nominally rated at 40 MW. All five electric generators are manufactured by Brush Turbogenerators of the United Kingdom.
By using a modular approach to plant design, the power station can operate at any load between 30 -132 MW and still maintain high efficiency. The Shin Nippon steam turbine utilizes impulse blading designed to allow turndown to ten percent (10%) of rated load while maintaining acceptable efficiency.
The steam turbine is directly coupled to the generator at 3000 rpm to avoid the additional cost and efficiency loss associated with a gearbox. In addition, Shin Nippon axial exhaust design enables the steam turbine generator to use a simple horizontal layout thus eliminating the need for a two-level mezzanine. This reduced the cost of the foundation and building by about thirty percent (30%).
