LM2500 Mobile Generating Pair
Two complete mobile generating plants, each built around a General Electric LM2500 gas turbine driving an 18,885 kVA generator at 13.8 kV. Roughly 7,000 hours on distillate, then stored; both engines were inspected, run and acceptance-tested on a test cell at an independent LM2500 overhaul facility in the United States in autumn 2023. The package nameplate rates each plant at 19.5 MW peak and 17.0 MW continuous at 59°F, sea level — 39.0 MW peak and 34.0 MW continuous for the pair — falling to 12.8 MW peak and 10.9 MW continuous at 120°F. Sold as-is, delivered into the United States.
The offering
This is a barn-find, and it is described here as one. Two mobile plants were bought roughly eight years ago by a turbine-service company, never put into service, and sent to an independent LM2500 overhaul facility in San Diego to be inspected and run. One engine received a hot section overhaul there; the other a health check. Both were acceptance-tested on a test cell in autumn 2023 and have sat since. The current owner maintains machines of this class for a living and has concluded it has no time to finish these, so they are being sold as they stand.
Halyard sells as principal. We are not a broker and we are not shopping someone else’s equipment: one accountable counterparty, one contract, funds through attorney escrow.
What a buyer is taking on is stated plainly. The packages date from 1980 and were originally built for a Middle East oil producer; the package is rated 19.5 MW peak and 17.0 MW continuous at 59°F, falling to 12.8 MW peak and 10.9 MW continuous at 120°F. The generator plate reads 18,885 kVA at 0.90 power factor — 17.0 MW, the package continuous rating exactly. The stamped amps corroborate it: 790 A at 13,800 V three-phase is 18,883 kVA. The electrical machine is therefore sized to the package and carries no spare capacity, so more output would mean work on the generator as well as the engine. We published the opposite earlier, from the equipment schedule rather than the plate, and have corrected it. and we will publish the answer whichever way it falls. The control retrofit is part-finished, well advanced on one plant and barely started on the other; and gas capability does not exist today and must be bought. Everything we know about the machines is published — photographs, nameplates, original drawings and what the depot found when it ran them. Two things are not on this page, and we would rather say why than let a buyer wonder. The engine test reports are the overhaul facility’s documents, not ours, and carry its confidentiality terms; we hold them in full and release them at letter-of-intent stage. Where the plants stand today is released at the same point. Neither is a finding we are keeping back: the depot’s conclusions are stated above and in the data room, in our own words.
- Nameplate ratings, condition and the original drawing set published in full — no NDA required to read any of it; serial numbers follow on countersignature
- Nameplate ratings, published in full rather than reduced to one number: 19.5 MW peak per plant at 59°F and 17.0 MW continuous — 39.0 MW peak and 34.0 MW continuous for the pair; 12.8 MW peak and 10.9 MW continuous at 120°F
- Three self-contained modules per plant on their own trailers, with black-start capability
- Liquid-fuelled with a standard annular combustor today; gas and dual-fuel routes priced with the OEM
Quick reference
| Engine | General Electric LM2500, model 7LM2500(PC)(105) — as read from the engine data plate |
| Package | Penske Power Systems PPS/GE15 — three-module, trailer-mounted, black-start capable |
| Engine shaft rating (nameplate) | 24,000 BHP — 17.9 MW — at 59°F, sea level, zero inlet and exhaust loss. This is the engine data plate figure at the shaft, not deliverable output at the terminals; the package ratings below are the ones a buyer meets. |
| Generator | Electric Machinery brushless synchronous. 18,885 kVA · 13,800 V · 790 A · 3600 rpm · 60 Hz · 3 phase · 0.90 power factor. Read off the plate: 790 A at 13,800 V three-phase is 18,883 kVA, which corroborates the stamped figure. At 0.90 power factor that is 17.0 MW — the package continuous rating exactly. |
| Package rating (nameplate) | Peak, sea level: 19.5 MW at 59°F · 12.8 MW at 120°F. Continuous, sea level: 17.0 MW at 59°F · 10.9 MW at 120°F. Power factor 0.90 |
| Combined | 34.0 MW continuous and 39.0 MW peak for the pair at 59°F, sea level |
| Rating ladder | Package peak 19.5 MW, continuous 17.0 MW. Engine shaft rating 24,000 BHP — 17.9 MW. Generator 18,885 kVA, which at 0.90 power factor is 17.0 MW. The generator is sized to the package continuous rating, not above it — there is no spare electrical capacity, and more output would require work on the generator as well as the engine. We publish this because we originally had it the other way round. |
| Serial numbers | Engine, package, generator and trailer serial numbers are released on countersignature of the confidentiality and non-circumvention agreement |
| Hours | ≈ 7,000 on distillate, predating the 2023 test-cell work below. Hour meters are being photographed and attested |
| Fuel and combustion | Distillate, standard annular combustor. No gas train fitted. Dual-fuel, water injection and DLE routes under budgetary quotation with GE Vernova |
| Controls | Retrofit to GE/Emerson RX3i in progress — approximately 70% complete on one plant, 10% on the other |
| Depot history | Both engines were inspected, run and acceptance-tested on a test cell at an independent LM2500 overhaul facility in San Diego in autumn 2023. One engine received a hot section overhaul in addition to the health check; the other received the health check alone. The facility’s engine test reports are held in full and released at letter-of-intent stage, subject to its confidentiality terms |
| Package vintage | 1980, originally built for a Middle East oil producer; original drawing set published |
| Delivery | Included in the price — delivered to any site in the lower 48. Freight, export, customs and duties are Halyard’s, not the buyer’s. Present location is released at letter-of-intent stage. |
| Price | US$39,000,000 for one unit · US$60,000,000 for both, as-is, delivered — freight to any lower-48 site included |
| Commercial | Sale as principal. Attorney escrow. Buyer contract is fixed, and not negotiable except as to price |