Editor’s Note: For this year’s
World’s Best Power Plants (WBPP)
annual feature we have taken a geo-
graphical approach, dividing the world
into five regions based on the location of
this year’s plant submissions.
We begin in the Far East with a look at
the Asia/Oceania region with Kawasaki
Heavy Industries’ submission of their
recently developed “green gas engine.”
Next, Dresser Waukesha provides their
best power plant — a large pig farm locat-
ed in the Philippines, producing renewable
energy. We continue onto the land down
under where four Alstom gas-fired tur-
bines are helping meet government-set
emissions targets. GE Energy rounds out
this region’s coverage with its submission
covering the upgrade of a GE Frame 7FA
gas turbine plant in Taiwan.
Kawasaki Heavy In-
dustries developed its
KG- 18 gas engine be-
tween 2004 and 2007.
It has achieved an effi-
ciency rating of 48.5%
with NOx emissions
measured at 0.8 g/k Wh.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries
Joetsu Energy Service, Japan
Located just 64 km north of Nagano,
Japan, the site of the 1998 Winter
Olympics, Joetsu City has been well
known for snow crab and sashimi fresh
from the Sea of Japan. Today, Joetsu
City can claim another significant mark.
It is the host of the latest product tech-
nology from the machinery division of
Kawasaki Heavy Industries — the KG-
18 gas engine. Rated 7. 8 MW at 50 Hz,
this engine has achieved an efficiency
rating of 48.5%.
Shown here is the Joetsu
Energy Service Power
Plant, located 64 km
north of Nagano, Japan.
Originally commissioned
as a demonstration plant
for Kawasaki’s KG- 18 gas
engine, the plant was
turned over to its owner,
Joetsu Energy Service, in
February 2009 — meeting
all efficiency and emis-
sions goals.
GW of diesel engines since 1920,
developed the KH- 18 gas engine with
the goal of achieving high efficiency
and low NOx emissions. The demonstration plant, installed and operated
by Kawasaki during 2008, met both
goals. In February 2009, the plant was
turned over to the owner, Joetsu
Energy Service, and has been in full
commercial operation ever since.
Joetsu Energy Service is an independent power producer (IPP), providing
power to a nearby chemical plant and
to the public grid as a peak shaver.
The operational mode of the plant is
“daily start/stop” because the IPP provides power to the plant during the
period of highest utility costs, during
daytime hours.
During the demonstration period,
Kawasaki documented over 400 consecutive starts of the KG- 18. Further,
