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Home > About Us > Press Center > 2003 Press Releases : Press Release |
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GE’s Expanding Scope of Services on Display at Power-Gen International LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (December 9, 2003) — From expanded service agreements to a robust portfolio of environmental technology offerings , GE Power Systems continues to broaden its range of services for the global power industry. Many of the newest service offerings are being highlighted by GE at Power-Gen International 2003. “Today’s power plant owners and operators are under constant pressure to create the highest levels of productivity and performance from their existing equipment,” said Ricardo Artigas, president of GE Energy Services. “Our mission is to help our customers meet their operating requirements by delivering the most advanced and comprehensive suite of services in the industry.” Contractual Services GE recently expanded its contractual service agreement (CSA) program to include CSAs specifically designed for steam turbines. Developed in the wake of favorable acceptance of GE’s gas turbine CSA, the new program, as structured, is the first of its kind in the steam turbine industry. GE also has expanded both its gas and steam turbine CSA programs to include such equipment as motors, transformers and switchgear. GE also is able to provide river-to-river water treatment and process water outsourcing, two offerings that are particularly relevant for steam plants. Earlier this year, GE also launched a CSA program for neutron monitoring systems in nuclear power plants, signing a CSA with Detroit Edison for the Fermi 2 Power Plant. GE recently signed a multi-vendor parts, services and repairs contract for ABB gas turbines. GE will provide hot gas parts, field engineering services and repair services for 12 ABB gas turbines at the customer’s plant. By the end of the third quarter of this year, GE had CSAs in place at 626 sites worldwide, covering more than 2,000 power generation turbines. On-site Services In 2003, GE completed outages for more than 1,550 customers worldwide, servicing both GE and multi-vendor equipment. New offerings include Outage AdvantageSM, a comprehensive range of outage service solutions to maintain and optimize gas and steam turbines and generators. This program can be customized to meet the individual needs of power generation and large industrial customers. GE also has provided installation services for 324 sites worldwide in the past year. A recent highlight was the testing, startup and operation of the first GE H System™ at the Baglan Bay Power Station in South Wales. Upgrading Performance GE Energy Services has introduced an array of new hot gas path components that will improve gas turbine performance and provide improved life and reliability in a starts-based application. These new components are available across GE’s gas turbine product lines, including the Frame 6B, 7E and all F-class units. GE has introduced a new life extension package for its fleet of large generators powered by fossil and nuclear steam turbines. These generators, with an average service life of more than 25 years, can exhibit generator rotor cracking at the upper limits of their life cycles; the life extension package helps to eliminate this failure risk and the periodic rotor disassembly and inspection the risk causes. Environmental Services GE employs a portfolio of emissions monitoring, optimization and control technologies to help customers not only reduce emissions from existing industrial and power plants, but also maximize performance. In accordance with its goal to continuously improve technology offerings, GE expects to announce soon its next evolution of DLN (Dry Low NOx) systems to achieve low single-digit levels of NOx for E-class technology. Several important projects were recently completed or are in process, including: • A major customer has awarded GE a contract to reduce NOx emissions from two 800-megawatt oil/gas fired utility boilers. The boilers will be modified to reduce emissions by approximately 50% with no impact on boiler capacity, efficiency or operability. • GE recently commissioned the first DLN-1 emissions reduction system on a Frame 5 gas turbine installed in a pipeline application. • Earlier this year, GE completed phase one of a project at the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation’s 360-megawatt coal-fired Holcomb plant in Kansas. GE technology will allow the station owner to reduce NOx emissions by a projected 50% and save $10 million a year. Remote DLN tuning is one of several key environmental initiatives and the first of several remote service offerings GE Power Systems expects to introduce to the industry. The remote platform allows customers to access GE’s performance expertise on demand, with tuning service provided within hours of the customer’s request. This platform sets the stage for enhanced performance monitoring and services that will increase the operational flexibility of the gas turbine. Faster Parts Delivery Another initiative from GE Power Systems is the short-cycle steam turbine bucket program. Since the program was launched, GE has provided more than 100 rows of steam turbine buckets with an average delivery cycle of less than 21 days. The customer benefits of this accelerated delivery schedule include reduced inventory, greater maintenance flexibility and reduced outage durations. One of GE’s leading e-business initiatives, GE PartsEdge, continues to be expanded and today offers 4.5 million parts on line. Version 7.0, which was introduced in mid-2003, provides expanded functionality such as viewing open orders or quotes and tracking shipments. To date this year, more than 1,300 orders have been received via the GE PartsEdge site, which averages 150 logins a day. A new function to automate and further streamline purchasing processes with vendors and partners is digitized customer ordering or EDI (electronic data interchange). GE currently is connected with 11 customers and has secured $17 million in EDI orders this year. Improved Repair Cycle Times GE initiated a refurbished parts program to facilitate rapid service delivery for customers. This program allows customers to purchase refurbished replacement parts as an alternative to longer cycle repair procedures. Since the program’s inception, it has generated more than $100 million in orders and plans are underway to develop stocking and distribution centers worldwide. Optimizing Plant Operations GE introduced its GenGauge™ software this year, which enables power producers to calculate their generating costs in real time, rather than relying on long-term averages that rarely match real-time economic conditions. The system has been installed at one U.S. utility that anticipates $5 million in annual savings. The first GE integrated control system retrofit in China has been completed and is nearing its first year of operation at Daqing’s Lamadien power plant. The system, which integrates the control of an entire combined-cycle plant, is providing optimized plant operation. GE Power Systems will launch a new Bently Nevada condition monitoring system for wind turbines in January 2004. Also new from GE is an improved combustion optimization system, featuring new O2/CO detection technology. Rental Equipment for Emergencies GE continues to supply rental equipment for temporary distributed power applications. Two recent examples: • After Hurricane Isabel hit the United States, GE quickly delivered more than 200 mobile generators that provided 120 megawatts of urgently needed power between western New York and North Carolina. In addition to generators, which ranged from six to 1,750 kilowatts, the company also provided an estimated 40 miles of cable and other rental equipment. • Portable power plants and diesel gen-sets provided by GE supplied up to 136 megawatts of electricity to help the Long Island Power Authority meet its 2003 summer peak demands. Transmission and Distribution Technologies GE has increased its focus in the power delivery area to address growing requirements from electric utilities to improve reliability and efficiency while reducing O&M costs and capital expenditures. With a comprehensive technology portfolio of solutions including network, design and workforce management applications, as well as smart sensors and substation controllers, GE’s service offerings for electric utilities enable integrated asset and process management. In the past year, the business has launched six new hardware and software technologies, including: workforce management applications such as the Smallworld Field Integration System™; smart sensors such as the Hydran® M2; and new protocols for substation controllers such as the D25. About GE Power Systems GE Power Systems (www.gepower.com) is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and management systems with 2002 revenues of nearly $23 billion. Based in Atlanta, GA, GE Power Systems provides equipment, service and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, distributed power and energy rental industries. > Press Contacts > More 2003 Press Releases |