- As GE Sells Its 3,000th E-Class Gas Turbine, the First---Sold in 1971---Remains in Operation
- 40 Years of Innovation: GE Builds on Reliable Architecture, Engineered to Evolve and Provide Bottom-Line Benefits for Customers
SCHENECTADY, N.Y.---Sept. 30, 2013--- In 1971, the first dot matrix printer was introduced to the marketplace. That same year, the first E-class[1] gas turbine from GE (NYSE: GE) began operation. The printers are history. The GE units are making history.
As GE's 3,000th E-class machine goes online, the first unit remains in operation. The original unit, part of the 7E gas turbine family, runs at National Grid's Shoreham Combustion Turbine plant. Pemex, Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, will use a geared gas turbine, also an E-class machine, for its Cadereyta cogeneration refinery in Nuevo Leon.
"The Pemex turbine reflects 40 years of innovation and energy evolution," says Vic Abate, president and CEO---Power Generation Products for GE Power & Water. "Yet the heart of the technology remains the same. The robust, durable architecture of GE gas turbines allows for continuous improvement to meet the changing energy demands of our global economy."
The combined strength of GE's 3,000 E-class turbines will represent more than 220 gigawatts of power and more than 100 million operating hours.
"GE's proven technology is used in applications worldwide and will allow us to produce steam and electricity with the efficiency, reliability and low emissions needed for our Pemex refinery," says Oswaldo Romero, project coordinator, Pemex Refining. "The turbine's heat-to-power ratio and ability to fit within our refinery's footprint were key reasons we chose GE's technology."
According to Abate, the ongoing evolution of GE's gas turbines helps customers drive business results.
"These gas turbines are 'right-sized,' have a competitively low installed cost and are highly reliable," added Abate. "Learning from our installed base, GE continually improves the machines' economics over their life cycles, allowing us to reduce the cost, amount and duration of maintenance."
GE's E-class gas turbines provide:
- Higher reliability: Coatings resist oxidation, erosion and thermal shock for longer life.
- Extended maintenance intervals: Advanced materials improve high-temperature vitality and extend inspection intervals, helping to lower overall costs.
- Lower emissions: Recent advancements include low single-digit NOx emissions capabilities, extended gas flexibility through the DLN 1+ combustion system and more durable materials.
- Fuel flexibility: Enhancements have improved the turbine control system and increased fuel flexibility to process natural gas, low calorific value gaseous fuels and a wide range of liquid fuels.
"While lower-cost fuels can be challenging, GE's E-class gas turbines create value by turning these fuels into revenue-generating kilowatt-hours," Abate says. "GE's fuel flexibility can keep plant emissions compliant and the customer's bottom line in check, while allowing for fuel usage that best suits business priorities."
GE---A Pioneer of Gas Turbine Technology
As a company founded by innovators, GE was an early entrant into turbomachinery products, pioneering the modern, industrial gas turbine more than 60 years ago. GE's early gas turbines produced from 10 to 20 megawatts of power, typically supplementing the steam turbines that produced the bulk of electricity. Over the years, GE invested in a broader range of applications---developing larger units capable of producing increasing amounts of power to support economic and industrial growth.
"Today, GE has the largest installed base of any gas turbine manufacturer in the world. With a heritage of gas turbine engineering, manufacturing and innovation, GE can meet the energy demands of the future, just as it has helped shape the world's power generation capabilities in the past," said Abate.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com/.
About GE Power & Water
GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar, biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world's most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water's six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy, Thermal Products and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE's largest industrial business.
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Comparative statements refer to prior GE technology and alternate types of technology (i.e. steam boilers, reciprocating engines).
[1] E-class refers to GE gas turbine technology with similar architecture, materials, aerodynamics for compression, combustion and hot gas path sections including the geared 6B gas turbine rated at 43 MW for 50 Hz and 60 Hz, the 7E gas turbine (including 7A, 7B, 7E and 7EA) rated at 89 MW for 60 Hz and the 9E gas turbine rated at 128 MW for 50 Hz.
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