Combustion Turbines
What does TVA power have to do with jet planes?
Well, one piece of equipment TVA uses to produce electricity—the combustion turbine, or CT—works a lot like a jet engine. In both cases, air enters at the front of the unit and gets compressed, or squeezed. Then the air is mixed with natural gas or oil. Finally, it’s ignited (kind of like lighting a candle), which produces a powerful flow of hot gas.
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A combustion turbine: jet-propelled power generation. |
In the jet plane, this provides the thrust that lets the plane race down the runway.
In the combustion turbine, instead of letting the hot gas shoot out the back, the gas is blown through the blades of a large fan, or turbine. As the turbune rotates, it turns a generator to produce electricity.
Lagoon Creek Combustion Turbine Plant was TVA’s first facility where power is generated only by combustion turbines. Today TVA has 98 combustion turbines: 42 at eight CT-only sites and 56 at TVA’s Allen, Colbert, Gallatin, and Johnsonville coal-burning plants. In 2012, three more combustion turbines begin operating next to TVA's John Sevier coal plant.
What makes combustion turbines so cool?
- These high-tech units can reach full power in just 20 minutes. That means when power demand is really high—like during the hot summer months—TVA can keep everyone’s air conditioners running around the clock.
- TVA’s combustion turbine units can run on natural gas or low-sulfur fuel oil, which helps reduce the amount of air pollution created by power production.
What’s one big difference between jet engines and CTs?
The noise. Stand 50 feet away from a roaring jet engine and you’ll probably end up with a huge headache (unless you remember to wear heavy-duty earplugs). At the same distance, the combustion turbine is much easier on the ears—it sounds about like a lawn mower.
