Siemens test fired the world’s largest and most powerful gas turbine as per schedule on December 20, 2007.

This marks the beginning of a planned 18-month trial operation period at the E.ON Irsching 4 power plant near Ingolstadt, Germany.

After successful completion of trial operation, Siemens will expand the plant to a high-efficiency combined-cycle power plant (CCPP) with a total output of about 530 megawatts and a peak load efficiency of over 60 percent.

Handover of the CCPP to E.ON Kraftwerke, a subsidiary of E.ON Energy, is expected to be made in 2011. E.ON and Siemens are investing a total of approximately EUR 500 million in this endeavor.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Consequently the objective is to not only meet the continuously increasing demand for electrical energy reliably and economically, but above all in a manner that is climatically-compatible,” said member of the board at Siemens AG. Energy Dr Uriel Sharef.

Chairman of the board at E.ON Energie AG Dr Klaus-Dieter Maubach pointed out the significance of further technological development in power generation.

“Combating climate change has become one of the cardinal challenges in our business. E.ON is planning investments totaling 60 billion euros by 2010. The major part of this will be in new and environmentally benign generating capacities,” added Dr Sharef. – TradeArabia News Service