Westinghouse EconoPac-Packaged Gas Turbine Power Plant

Model of W501D5 EconoPac illustrating major components and arrangement. Full gas turbine power plant would arrive at site in pre-packaged modules for quick field assembly. Glycol cooler was used for hydrogen-cooled generator, which was standard scope before availability of large air-cooled generators
for the application.

Note: "EconoPac" is a registered trademark of Siemens Energy Corporation.

As the gas turbine engine technology evolved, so did ideas on how to best package all of it auxiliary supporting systems. In addition to the gas turbine itself, there was the generator/exciter and the mechanical and electrical auxiliaries.

In 1962, Westinghouse introduced the concept of a pre-engineered packaged gas-turbine power generating unit with the W171 (12,000kW) unit sold to the Houma Light & Power Company in Houma, Louisiana. This early application established the basis for the "EconoPac" simple cycle packaged plant which became the standard scope of supply for Westinghouse simple cycle gas turbine units to this day.

The "EconoPac" includes the factory-assembled, skid-mounted gas turbine engine, generator, and exciter, starting package, mechanical (lube oil, hydraulics, pneumatics, etc.), and electrical/control auxiliary skids, inlet system (filter and ducting), exhaust system (ducting, stack, and silencer), all coolers, fans, pumps, valves, and interconnecting piping. Enclosures for all skids are also included in the standard scope of supply. Typically, the EconoPac defined the gas turbine scope of supply for extended scope plants (cogeneration, combined cycle, etc.), as well as a simple cycle unit.

Examples of EconoPac installations are shown in the following photographs (from Westinghouse archives and various publications):

Four W501AA EconoPacs at Baltimore Gas & Electric Company's facility in Perryman, Maryland.

Three W501B EconoPacs at Nevada Power Company's Clark Station in Las Vegas, Nevada. Units were later converted to combined cycle.

W251 EconoPac at the Comisión Federal de Electricidad's facility in Mexico in 1980.

Two W501D5 EconoPacs a Electroperú's facility in Peru in 1993.

501F 166MW EconoPac in Colombia in 1997.

Several barge mounted units using both W251B10 and W501D5 EconoPacs were built at Sabah Shipyards, Malaysia, during the mid-1990s. A two-unit W251B10 96MW barge is shown here.

W251B10 48MW barge.