GE Vernova – the energy part of General Electric’s business created when the company split into energy, healthcare and aviation arms – has announced that Competitive Power Ventures’ Three Rivers Energy Center has begun operation in Goose Lake Township, Grundy County, Illinois.

The Center consists of two generating blocks and is fired by natural gas, using GE’s HA combined cycle equipment, with a total rated output capacity of over 1.2 GW. At each block, a GE 7HA.02 gas turbine, an STF-A650 steam turbine, a W84 generator, and GE’s integrated Mark* Vle control system have been installed, and together they provide operational flexibility designed to help the Center integrate with changing grid conditions brought by higher proportions of renewable energies.

In GE’s words, the “turbine configuration allows the plant to run at a lower output to reduce the need to shut down during low grid demand hours thus reducing cyclic load maintenance”. The project is the third H-Class combined cycle plant developed for Competitive Power Ventures, the other two being in Connecticut and Pennsylvania.