GE Vernova Inc. (GEV) has announced the successful completion of a major outage and the installation of two of its High Efficiency (HE) upgrades at InterGen‘s 800-megawatt (MW) combined cycle Coryton Power Plant, located 30 miles east of London on the River Thames, with the upgrades resulting in plant performance that surpassed expectations.
GE Vernova’s HE upgrade utilises technology breakthroughs across the gas turbine, compressor, and combustor. These advancements enabled Coryton Power Plant to deliver up to an additional 85 MW, surpassing the expected 77 MW, and improved unit efficiency by 2.46%. The upgrades also aim to extend maintenance intervals. Furthermore, this modernisation is projected to lead to a reduction of approximately 67,500 tons equivalent of carbon emissions each year, aligning with the government’s objectives to lower the national carbon footprint by requiring less fuel to produce the same amount of power.
The outage conducted at Coryton power plant included borescope inspections on two generators and steam turbines, valve inspections, and electrical testing of all components. GE Vernova’s Coryton project team, comprising over 300 experts from Project Management, Engineering, Parts, Sourcing, One Field Services (OFS), Logistics, and Manufacturing from across the globe, collaborated closely with InterGen as a unified team.
With this project, eleven GT26 units upgraded with the HE is already in operation in 2025. GE Vernova has invested significantly in the development of the GT26 HE upgrade, which was introduced in 2019. This technology combines the best from both GE Vernova’s F-and H-Class fleets with additive-manufactured parts and innovations in aerodynamics, material science, and combustion dynamics, and provides a leap forward in efficiency, output, and maintenance interval extensions.