Abstract
This article presents an overview of the world’s very first industrial gas turbine, which started operation in the Swiss city of Neuchâtel, in 1939. This 4-MWe machine is now on display in a special museum on the grounds of Alstom in Birr village. The museum is housed in an attractive glassed-in building, adjacent to the rotor plant. The gas turbine had originally been in operation for 63 years in a bombproof building, serving the city of Neuchâtel as a standby and peaking unit for electrical power. It was closed down in 2002 after damage to the generator occurred, and then was moved to Birr by Alstom for restoration. It was put on display in its new museum home in 2006. The Neuchâtel gas turbine looks surprisingly “modern.” The axial flow compressor, axial flow turbine, and electrical generator are inline, and directly coupled, and run at 3000 rpm to produce 4 MWe. It is roughly 3–5 times larger than the 7-MWe Solar Taurus gas turbines in the University of Connecticut cogen plant.
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