GE Completes First Battery Assisted Black Start of a GE Heavy Duty Gas Turbine

February 27, 2020 | Alternative Energy | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 3min

GE announced the successful completion of the first battery energy storage assisted black start of a GE 7F.03 gas turbine at the 150 megawatt (MW) simple cycle unit at Entergy Louisiana’s Perryville Power Station. This is the first time GE has achieved a black start of a GE heavy-duty gas turbine using energy storage. A “black start” consists of rebooting an idle power plant without support from the grid in the event of a major system disruption or a system-wide blackout.

The Perryville Power Station is supported by GE’s 7.4 MW battery-based energy storage system paired with the plant’s simple cycle gas turbine.

“This is an innovative use of battery technology that provides another tool to buttress the overall reliability and resiliency of our system,” said Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana.

“Black start technology proves that energy generation sources integrated with battery energy storage systems is a -good method to effectively support the grid,” said Prakash Chandra, Renewable Hybrids CEO, GE Renewable Energy. “We are proud to have successfully completed the first ever black start of a GE heavy-duty turbine.”

A black start is one of the most difficult tasks in the power business. To provide a black start, traditionally some power stations have small diesel generators — normally called black start diesel generator (BSDG) — which can be used to start larger generators (of several megawatts capacity), which in turn can be used to start the main power station generators.

“This project demonstrates the complementary nature of gas-powered energy and battery storage, and we’re proud to integrate this technology while helping to maintain unit reliability and availability,” said Amit Kulkarni, General Manager for Large Blocks product segment, GE Gas Power. “With the battery energy storage system integrated to our heavy-duty gas turbines, we have created a first-of-its-kind backup support system, and we are excited about developing similar projects with our customers globally.”

This milestone project serves as a potential model for future projects in GE’s F-class gas turbine fleet of approximately 900 units in service producing approximately 150 GW of power in 12 countries.