Billions of dollars have been invested in existing gas power plants around the Middle East and Africa (MEA), with plant owners and operators looking for ways to improve the operational performance of these assets. The right services provided at the right time can help keep gas turbines running reliably and efficiently over their entire lifespans, which typically extend to 20-30 years or even longer.
GE recently provided a comprehensive overview of services offered for gas turbines and other power generation equipment through its Jebel Ali Service Centre and Monitoring and Diagnostics (M&D) Centre in Dubai, UAE. The tour was led by Joseph Anis, President and CEO of GE Gas Power Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); Otmane Benamar, Acting Chief Technology Officer of GE Gas Power EMEA; and Kenneth Oyakhire, Services Leader of GE Gas Power Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Completed in 2006, covering over 4,000 square metres, and representing an investment of over $11 million, GE's Jebel Ali Service Centre houses two workshops - one each for gas turbines and generators. The facility offers advanced maintenance, testing, and repair solutions. Over the years, the Centre has served more than 80 customers from over 35 countries from east to west, including Bangladesh, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Peru, and many others. The Centre services equipment built by both GE and other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM). The only GE facility of its kind throughout MEA, it offers faster services at competitive costs to customers in the region and beyond, while operating to the same ISO 9001 quality, as well as ISO 14001 environment, health, and safety (EHS) certifications.
Anis said: "GE's Jebel Ali Service Centre offers a full breadth of offerings for the power sector to meet the increasing needs for reliable, efficient, and sustainable electricity for a growing population. Our core focus is on supporting our customers to ensure the seamless operations of their assets through swift maintenance and repair services, distinguished by our commitment to quality, productivity, cost effectiveness, and EHS standards."
The diverse breadth of repairs offerings at the Centre cover gas turbines and generators. On-site services include blade replacement and repairs, machining repairs, generator rotor seal oil journal repairs, stator rewinds, and other core maintenance. It is also GE's only high-speed balancing facility and dynamic electrical testing centre for rotors in MEA.
GE’s M&D Centre in Dubai is one of the industry-leading power generation equipment monitoring facilities. The Centre's experts work with customers to increase uptime while reducing operations and maintenance expenses. Today, more than 950 power producing utilities use the M&D Center's monitoring services for over 6,000 power plant assets around the world. Every day, the Centre receives over one million data points per second, coming from thousands of sensors attached to monitored assets. By providing a real-time view of asset data, the Centre enables more effective, collaborative trouble-shooting with experts, enhancing the ability to forecast and prevent power outages through predictive maintenance alerts, and providing customised solutions. "Our investment in the M&D Centre is part of our continued efforts to drive the digital transformation of the power sector and leverage data and insights to support today's dynamic energy market. It is critical to have asset visibility 24/7 and make data driven decisions so we can ultimately serve the community better by meeting their electricity needs more reliably," adds Anis.
Globally, electricity and heat production account for up to 40 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions, with upto 770 million people in the world without reliable access to power. As we accelerate efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions ambitions, there can be no doubt that the world needs to invest at scale and with speed in new renewable energy projects. However, it's also clear that these investments are not occurring fast enough. Renewable energy is expected to account for less than 50 per cent of total global electricity supply in 2040. Moreover, we must address the energy trilemma to achieve more reliable, affordable, and sustainable power, while energy demand continues to rise.
Gas can support the further growth of renewables by providing flexible, on demand, reliable power that has the lowest carbon emissions of traditional fossil fuel-based electricity and help stabilise the grid as variable sources of solar, wind, and other alternative energy sources are brought online.
"As the world steps up efforts to address the climate challenge, renewable energy and gas power together, are positioned to play a leading role in accelerating the transition to a lower carbon energy future," says Anis. "The high-quality services GE offers at our Jebel Ali Service Centre and Monitoring and Diagnostics Centre, enable us to continue to collaborate with our customers to ensure that they can keep their gas power assets running reliably to support the energy transition in the years ahead."