GE hosted a ‘GE Technology Day’ seminar in Muscat yesterday under the theme ‘Powering the Future’. The event welcomed around 70 attendees, including government officials, industry experts, power plant owners and operators, consultants and others. GE highlighted the company’s extensive breadth of advanced technologies, solutions and services from the point of generation to consumption, across fuel sources, including gas, coal and wind at the event.
According to Oman Power & Water Procurement Co’s, 7-year statement (2017 to 2023), peak demand for electricity is expected to grow at 7 percent per year. GE’s advanced technologies discussed at the event aim at supporting the country in meeting this growing demand.
Ghassan Barghout, President & CEO of GE’s Gas Power Systems – Sales for the Middle East and North Africa said, “GE Technology Day underlines our commitment to supporting Oman in strengthening its power infrastructure, developing its human capital, reducing operational costs, and diversifying its energy sources. The event serves as a significant platform for stakeholders to meet and discuss how the power sector can become more efficient and productive by drawing on the latest technologies and digital capabilities, as well as the opportunities and skill sets the future power industry brings to localization efforts and the Omani workforce.”
A special highlight of the event was GE’s leading HA technology, the world’s largest and most efficient gas turbine, which has set industry benchmarks in the cost-effective conversion of fuel to electricity. The turbine helped EDF’s power plant in Bouchain, France, achieve a world record in combined cycle efficiency of 62.22 percent. It has undergone full-speed, full-load validation tests at extreme conditions well beyond those encountered while in service and completed more than 12,000 operating hours. Sixty HA units have already been ordered to date by more than 15 customers across 15 countries, including the US, Brazil, Japan, Bahrain, China and others.
The event also covered GE’s extended gas power systems portfolio, which helps to deliver the output, operational flexibility and performance needed for today’s rapidly-evolving energy environment. This includes the 6F gas turbine, which has the durability and flexibility ideal for harsh and remote environments; the LMS100 aeroderivative gas turbine, which offers the highest simple cycle efficiency of any gas turbine in the world; and other solutions.
With over 30 percent of the world’s steam turbine capacity, nearly one-third of the world’s boilers and over 100 years of expertise, GE’s steam turbine technologies were also one of the much-discussed topics at GE Technology Day.
Another area of focus at the event were the capabilities and offerings of GE’s Power Services business, including advanced technology upgrades that can help enhance the efficiency of existing power generation assets, maintenance / outage planning and execution, and operations and maintenance services. Experts also showcased how software solutions for the power sector based on Predix*- GE’s cloud-based operating system for industry – can help increase operational efficiency and reliability, contributing to a world of zero unplanned downtime and other benefits. For example, GE’s Asset Performance Management (APM) solution can enhance the reliability of combined cycle gas power plants up to 3 percent, while the Operations Optimization solution can improve operational efficiency up to 4 percent.
GE supplied Oman’s very first gas turbine at Al Ghubra and has supported the development of the power generation sector in the country for more than 40 years. Today, GE-built technologies can generate up to 25 percent of Oman’s power and the company has more than 200 employees in the country. The company’s operations are aligned to Oman’s development vision to promote sustainable growth, develop human resources, strengthen public-private partnerships and accelerate economic diversification.
