Unprecedented growth of nearly 339% last year in the gas andsteam turbine market was fueled by the rise in combined cycleconfigurations, a manufacturing method that has dramaticallyincreased efficiency in electricity production and becomeincreasingly popular with power plant producers, according to a newresearch report by Frost & Sullivan.

The report, “North American Gas and Steam Turbine Markets”concludes that several factors have contributed to the turbineindustry’s growth, which last year generated revenues of $8.22billion. Researchers believe that there will be continued strongsales through 2006, mostly because of the combined cycleconfiguration. Some turbine manufacturers are reporting orderbacklogs now stretching to 2004.

In this configuration, one or more gas turbines are combinedwith a steam turbine, and as exhaust is discharged from the gasturbine, the fumes are captured in a heat recovery steam generator,and thus, drive the steam turbine.

“This type of configuration is often near 60% efficiency,compared to a single gas turbine in a simple cycle that generates35% to 40% efficiency,” said analyst Max Mayer. “This configurationhas contributed to the market for associated products like steamturbines and heat recovery steam generators, which have both shownsolid increases in sales.”

The combined cycle configuration allows more versatility forpower producers. With a two-gas, one-steam turbine configuration,one of the gas turbines may be turned off during low-load ormaintenance periods, while the rest of the machine runs at anoptimum level.

Gas turbine manufacturers and power plant producers areespecially interested in the market’s outlook and plan to focus inthe next several years to bringing more combined cycle systems online, especially in high brownout areas and regions with highelectricity costs.

“Improving efficiency rates is a driving force in turbinetechnology,” Mayer said. “Turbines are the most efficientgenerating source in combustion technology used to createelectricity. Slight improvements in efficiency percentagestranslate to lower costs for power plants and thus lower prices forelectricity.”

For information about the report, contact Rolf Gatlin at210-348-1017, or send an e-mail to rgatlin@frost.com.

Carolyn Davis, Houston

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