GE’s Technology, Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals boost power output

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph"><strong> <&sol;strong>General Electric Power and Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals have announced&comma; through a statement from Apo Group&comma; made available to OpenLife that they have successfully executed GE’s 6B Performance Improvement Package &lpar;PIP&rpar; upgrade on the first two out of six 6B gas turbines at the petrochemical facility in Eleme&comma; Rivers State&period; The upgrade increased Indorama’s plant output by 15&percnt; per gas turbine&comma; more than doubling the expected increase of 6&percnt;&period; The upgrade will help extend the interval for combustion and hot gas path inspections&comma; reducing overall maintenance costs&period; In addition&comma; this project is expected to increase power plant availability of up to 3&comma;960 hours over 16 years&period; <br> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The growth in production is directly proportional to an increase in power needs and operational costs”&comma; said a senior management official of Indorama Group of Companies&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Due to growing power demand in Nigeria&comma; our objective is to expand our production&period; GE’s technology will help us mitigate costs while ensuring there is enough power to support increased production at a lower cost&period;”<br> At Indorama’s Eleme plant&comma; GE successfully installed the technology upgrade on two of GE’s six 6B gas turbines on site&period; The turbines achieved an increased output of 5 MWs per unit&comma; exceeding the expected benefits of 2&period;5MWs&period;  In addition&comma; Combustion and Hot Gas Path inspections which were separately carried out at 12&comma;000 hours and 24&comma;000 hours respectively&comma; will both take place at 32&comma; 000 hours&period; Over 16 years&comma; this new schedule will save Indorama the cost of carrying out 21 separate combustion and four HGP inspections and adding 3&comma;960 hours of production&period;<br> &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;At GE&comma; we’re always focused on understanding our customers’ needs so we can tailor the right innovative solutions to increase the power plant’s operational performance and profitability&comma;” said Elisee Sezan&comma; CEO for GE’s Gas Power businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In 2009&comma; GE launched the 6B Performance Improvement Package&comma; featuring advances in materials&comma; coatings&comma; sealing and aerodynamics derived from its F-class technology to increase output and efficiency&period;  We’re proud that GE’s continued investment in upgrades for mature fleets are helping power producers and industrial operators – like Indorama &&num;8211&semi; remain competitive in today’s very dynamic marketplace&period;”<br> Today&comma; PIP is installed on over 200 units globally&comma; and it has become the standard configuration for new 6B gas turbines&period; GE has been operating in Nigeria for over 40 years&comma; with more than 750 employees today&comma; 90&percnt; of whom are Nigerians&period;  The company has businesses spanning across key sectors including oil and gas&comma; power&comma; healthcare and renewables&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;