Naval uptake for gas power

摘要

Although a first commercial marine contract for the MT30 gas turbine continues to elude Rolls-Royce, notwithstanding expressions of interest from certain technical quarters of the LNG carrier business, the potent new engine has found favour in the naval market. While the fifth machine for the US Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) programme has recently been put through its paces on the Bristol test stand, before shipment across the Atlantic, the group is now working on an order received this year to provide MT30-based generator sets for two US destroyer newbuilds. Two MT30 gensets plus two RR4500 gas turbine gensets have been specified for each of the first ships of the DDG1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer series. Deliveries of the 36MW MT30 sets, which will be assembled in the USA, are due to start in 2009. The newbuilds have been placed with Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The Rolls-Royce powering deal contains options on three further vessels. The US navy is expected to commit to a total of seven Zumwalt multi-mission destroyers over the next seven years.