Live Outage
GE has implemented a new approach to outages called Live Outage, which was developed along with experts from the field to improve the field execution experience for our customers.
Transforming outages
Bringing the digital world to your outage
The latest in GE’s outage services offerings, Live Outage is a weatherproof, touchscreen-based, digitized platform that replaces a more antiquated, paper-based approach. This not only reduces the risk of mistakes or rework, it also speeds up the outage process for customers, helping them get back in business more quickly.
15+
Live Outage pilots successfully completed at power plants to help ensure flawless operation
Up to 120
more Live Outage implementations planned for 2022
20
tablets and two large kiosks used at each site
Frequently asked questions
Learn more about Live Outage
What is Live Outage and how does it work?
What is Live Outage and how does it work?
Live Outage combines GE’s proprietary outage procedures and processes with mobile digital technology, replacing the former paper-based field execution method. This new approach includes:
- Rail-mounted hardware
- Large display screens on-site
- Hardened, weather-proof tablets
- Stored drawings, videos, step-by step procedures and checklists to advance the outage progress
- Immediate feedback and updates that are available to other GE teams worldwide
Before Live Outage, outage execution was reliant on an onsite trailer, filled with piles of paper procedures and drawings. Now, instead of maintaining historical, paper-based documentation, the knowledge is fully digitized and enables real-time feedback and improvement with progress tracking.
Why are we implementing Live Outage?
Live Outage platform is shifting lean to the front lines of Gas Power. We’re implementing Live Outage to:
- Create an integrated and scaled standard work practice for the entire field execution team.
- Simplify the complexity of the tasks at hand.
- Improve the safety, quality and efficiency of the outage process for the benefit of our customers.
What are the main benefits of Live Outage?
- Eliminates administrative burden of delivering/maintaining physical binders/documents for the site team
- Delivers useful content to the crews on site in a digital way that can be edited in real time, including tutorials in the format of images and video
- Enables real time status checks and scheduling of work scope
- Enables direct feedback from the site teams on processes and ability to easily update the work methods accordingly as needed
How are we implementing Live Outage?
To begin introducing this program widely, we piloted Live Outage for select gas turbines throughout the 2021 fall outage season across 7F gas turbine locations in North America. Our goal is to scale it to include all F-class units globally and all other GE technologies in the coming years.
Customers have asked
Where is the information from the tool stored and is it secure?
The tool is cloud-based and secure. Protecting our customers data in the cloud and hardware was a critical pillar in developing Live Outage.
Can I have access to the material in Live Outage?
We can provide customers with access to certain reporting information, real time schedule statuses, customer-related stop work events, suggested improvements, and approved data sheets.
Can the Live Outage tool help provide diagnostics in the event of a fault occurrence?
Live Outage isn’t tied to HMI or the operating system of a power plant, but it can help us to understand the quality and safety failures that occurred during an outage that may have led to the fault occurrence.
The tool allows us to know:
- The person who performed the work
- The time of day an event occurred
- The specific step in the work method when something occurred
Armed with this information, we have the opportunity to diagnose the fault and prevent it from happening in the future.
Do I have to pay extra to get Live Outage as part of my outage?
No, we are introducing Live Outage to bring added value to our customers—efficiently, safely and with high quality, all while keeping the customer informed. There is no charge for this additional offering, as it’s part of our continuous improvement efforts.
Featured video
Watch Live Outage in action
Introducing Live Outage, a system that puts needed manuals, documentation and checklists required to execute work in digital devices, available onsite and on the turbine deck.
Featured content
Learn more about Live Outage
Customer stories
- USA
Ramping up outage efficiency with an innovative approach
Highlights
8-day
outage duration
6 days
faster than the average HGP
A customer in the Midwest turned to GE to manage a complex outage to restore its 7FA.03 gas turbines to their previous efficiency and output. GE and the customer worked together to complete an extensive outage to help the utility continue providing power to local residents.
Project details
The utility’s four 7FA.03 gas turbines, which are used as peaker units in simple cycle mode, were about to reach their 900 starts limit and needed to be serviced before they could be put back online. The customer provides electricity to close to 7 million residents, so it was crucial to complete the outage quickly—and effectively.
The GE team employed a new outage enhancement called “Live Outage”, which replaces a previously manual process with a more modern one to help improve the safety, quality and efficiency of onsite field execution. As a result of these process and technology improvements, the team was able to complete the outage in just 8 days—6 days faster than the average HGP, with no safety incidents.
Note: Live Outage is currently available at select 7F locations and will be rolled out to all other GE technologies globally in the coming years.
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