NRG Texas Power LLC is pursuing an air permit approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for new gas-fired peaking capacity at its P.H. Robinson Electric Generating Station in Bacliff, Galveston County, Texas.
The application was filed in February 2013, and supplemented in October 2013 with more information about how this peaking capacity is needed in Texas. EPA had not issued a draft permit on the project as of April 16. The application is for a greenhouse gas permit under the prevention of significant deterioration program.
NRG Texas proposes to add six simple cycle generating units at the Robinson Station to be used for peaking purposes only. The proposed facilities are existing units that will be relocated and installed at the site. The units are General Electric 7B combustion turbines that have been modified to include 7E components. Each of the six units has an ISO rating of 65 MW but is capable of a nominal maximum generation capacity of about 80 MW.
The turbines will be fired exclusively with natural gas. The maximum operating rate of each unit will not exceed a 20% annual capacity (equivalent to 1,752 full load hours) in any single year or a 10% annual capacity factor (equivalent to 876 full load hours) averaged over any three-year period.
The proposed gas turbines are currently installed at an existing electric generating station in Mississippi, the company said. The turbines were originally manufactured in the 1970s as Frame 7B turbines. In the 1998/1999 period the turbines were remanufactured and converted to Frame 7E turbines, which include dry low NOx (DLN) combustor technology. The turbines were put into operation as peakers at the current New Albany, Miss., location at that time.
