General Electric upgrading Thai power plants

General Electric, America’s blue-chip power provider, will help Thailand go green. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has secured the services of GE of the United States to upgrade two of its power plants, and said the work will significantly reduce emissions in Bangkok and surrounding areas.

That will improve air quality in the Thai capital, which has already been steadily improving over the past two decades. Once laden with lead and considered among the poorest in terms of air quality in Asia, Bangkok is no longer in the top-10 most polluted cities in Asia. In fact, Jitendra Shah, an air pollution specialist with the World Bank said, “in many ways, Bangkok is in the forefront” in implementing measures to improve air quality.

GE will upgrade four of its 9F turbines, two at each plant, and the work should increase the operational and fuel flexibility of the facilities. EGAT is Thailand’s largest power provider and is a state enterprise. It owns and operates 40 power plants in the Kingdom, producing over 15,000 megawatts of power, or 44 percent of all electricity consumed in the country.

“By working with GE to increase the flexibility and efficiency of our power plants at EGAT North and South Bangkok, we are strengthening power security for our country in the event of different gas compositions while also improving air quality and reducing fuel consumption,” said Charin Kanjanarat, an EGAT Assistant Governor.

“Energy efficiency and environmental protection are priorities that support Thailand’s growth policies, and we implemented strong measures to reduce and control our environmental impact,’’ he added.

Aside from upgrading the turbines to newer more efficient and flexible models, GE will also install new advanced software to manage and maintain them. The company said that “its OpFlex Auto Tune suite of software solutions are a GE Industrial Internet offering which aimed at boosting the performance and life of existing gas turbines and power plants without performing a major outage, allowing operators to reduce their costs and maintain regulatory compliance.”

In addition, GE announced an agreement to supply six new LM6000-PF+ aeroderivative gas turbines for Gulf Energy Development (GED), an energy investment firm. The units will be used for three combined-cycle plants to help increase efficiency and generate additional power. The LM6000-PF+ has reached its highest efficiency yet, and can go from zero to full power in less than 10 minutes.

 

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Thailand Focus September 8, 2015
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