The Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) needed to build additional emergency reserve power to meet the region’s peak energy demands during the winter months.
GE built a complete power plant at its Manufacturing Center in Birr, Switzerland—including eight TM2500 aeroderivative gas turbines and necessary infrastructure—in a record-breaking 26 weeks.
to complete the power plant
additional reserve power
per TM2500 unit
The scope and nature of this project are extraordinary: GE built not just the power plant but also supporting infrastructure and orchestrating the work of more than 200 people. On the peak in January, we had approximately 500 people working on this project, that was executed safely and in record time.
Chief Technology Officer - Switzerland, GE Gas Power
Christian Verhoeven
The GE team connected the power plant to the grid at the end of February 2023 and have since completed successful tests for commissioning. The power plant is now able to supply electricity when required.
The temporary reserve power plant in Birr has dual fuel capability for both gaseous and liquid fuels. GE’s TM2500 gas turbines can run on several different fuel sources, depending on the combustion system configuration, including hydrogen, biogas or biodiesel and synthetic fuels/SAF (sustainable air fuels) produced with renewable energy. The TM2500 is capable of burning up to 85% hydrogen by volume of hydrogen when blended with natural gas and GE is working to expand this capability in the future to further lower carbon emissions from operations for the TM2500 fleet.
The Swiss Federal Office of Energy has ordered 250 MW of GE’s TM2500
aeroderivative gas turbines to help meet electricity demand during the winter
seasons. The TM2500 units will power a temporary reserve power plant in
Birr.
