Managing the CCGT new unit and retrofit boom
The 2026 HRSG Forum returns to The Woodlands, Tex., July 20–23, with a program aimed at the issues now shaping CCGT projects and existing HRSG fleets: new unit builds, construction execution, material selection, cycle chemistry, inspection, and the effect of gas-turbine upgrades on downstream equipment.
The meeting is scheduled for The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center. Registration is open, and the conference welcomes end users, OEMs, service providers, consultants, and other participants involved in HRSG-equipped powerplants.
Why attend? Practical exchange amongst all stakeholders.
The value proposition for attendees remains the forum’s broad, technical mix. Recent HRSG Forum programs have brought together end users, HRSG manufacturers, service providers, consultants, designers, and fabricators for practical presentations, question-and-answer sessions, and facilitated discussion.
That structure matters in 2026 because HRSG reliability questions increasingly cross traditional boundaries. New-build design decisions affect commissioning and maintainability. Gas-turbine upgrades can change exhaust conditions and thermal response. Cycle chemistry and drain-control issues can produce failures that appear mechanical at first inspection. The agenda reflects those interdependencies by pairing presentations, panels, open-floor discussions, and exhibit-area networking across the four-day program.
Monday: tour and first vendor fair
Monday is organized as a tour day, including an interactive visit to the GE Vernova Houston Learning Center, followed by the vendor fair and networking reception in the exhibit area. The tour should give attendees direct exposure to the training environment supporting gas turbines, steam turbines, generators, controls, and related service work.
For HRSG Forum attendees, the tour has added relevance because many agenda topics sit at the interface between GT capability and HRSG duty. Training assets and hands-on environments provide a useful backdrop for discussions about upgraded GTs, controls, startup behavior, and the resulting pressures on downstream heat-recovery equipment.
New construction, constructability, and materials
Tuesday’s program opens with a market update, then moves into HRSG design evolution and constructability. The agenda includes a discussion of the owner’s and contractor’s roles in constructability, a panel on new construction lessons, a low-load operation presentation, a materials/new-build topic, and a material-selection panel.
The timing is appropriate. New combined-cycle projects face the familiar technical questions of pressure-part design, catalyst access, drain systems, bypass equipment, and maintainability, while also facing newer concerns around supply chain, material availability, and construction sequencing. The program is designed to bring those issues together, not treat them as isolated procurement or engineering decisions.
Tuesday also includes sessions on alternatives to isolation-valve hardfacing and design-for-maintainability lessons from HRSG and catalyst cleaning in advanced-class combined cycles. Those topics connect early design choices to future outage duration, access planning, and maintenance cost.
Chemistry, inspection, and damage mechanisms
Wednesday’s program turns to several recurring HRSG reliability concerns: damaging thermal transients, film-forming substance application, pressure-part failure analysis, liner and exhaust-diffuser repair or replacement, HRSG cleaning, and bypass-valve wet-steam erosion.
Cycle chemistry remains central to those discussions. Prior HRSG Forum coverage has grouped chemistry impacts into tube damage and failure mechanisms, corrosion-product transport, and steam-turbine deposits or damage. The 2026 agenda’s focus on film-forming substances and failure analysis should help attendees connect chemistry program decisions to inspection findings, metallurgical conclusions, and corrective actions.
GT upgrades and downstream HRSG effects
Thursday’s agenda focuses on the combined-cycle system as a whole. Sessions include commissioning of automatic high-pressure superheater and reheater drain control, GE Vernova experience with aging-fleet reliability issues, electrode-boiler technology, gas-turbine exhaust-diffuser replacement case studies, the Duke Osprey GT upgrade case study, and planning for GT upgrades while managing effects on HRSG equipment and operations. The day closes with a GT-upgrades panel.
This is a practical emphasis for owner/operators evaluating uprates, component replacements, controls changes, or emissions-related modifications. A GT upgrade can improve output or operating flexibility, but it also can shift HRSG inlet conditions, startup gradients, attemperator duty, drain behavior, casing and liner exposure, and bypass-valve service conditions. The agenda’s structure gives attendees a chance to consider those effects before the outage plan is fixed.
Vendor access and open participation
The forum also provides concentrated access to more than 50 exhibiting vendors that support HRSG maintenance, inspection, cleaning, component repair, construction, controls, valves, chemistry, and outage execution. Exhibit time is built into receptions, breakfast, breaks, and lunches, giving attendees opportunities to test technical questions against multiple service approaches.
The conference is open to end users, OEMs, service providers, consultants, and others with a role in HRSG-equipped plants. There are no “closed” sessions.
Call to action: bring plant-specific questions
Attendees will get the most value by arriving with specific plant questions. The world’s foremost experts will be on hand to answer them. Useful preparation includes recent cycle-chemistry data, inspection findings, drain and attemperator operating history, gas-turbine upgrade assumptions, unresolved materials questions, and lessons from current or planned new-build work.
2026 Conference and Exhibition
July 20-23 @ The Woodlands, TX
Steering committee
- Scott Wambeke, Xcel Energy
- Albert Olszewski, Constellation Energy
- Michael McCartney, ExxonMobil
- Nick Ruscillo, CAMS
- Bob Anderson, moderator
- Barry Dooley, moderator
Special guests
- David Addison, Thermal Chemistry Ltd
- Tom Freeman, Gas Turbine Coach LLC
