Thai Power Plant Wins Prestigious Asian Power Award for Outstanding Operation and Maintenance Performance
BANGKOK---October 23, 2008---Tri Energy's Ratchaburi power plant in Thailand today was named as the Silver Medal winner in the operation and maintenance category of the 2008 Asian Power Awards competition. The plant was nominated by GE Energy for the Best Operation & Maintenance Project in Asia. Using technological innovations from GE Energy, the plant was able to exceed environmental requirements specified by the Thai government for power plants in order to reduce the energy sector's emissions.
The annual Asian Power Awards, which recognizes Asia's top power plant projects, were announced during the PowerGen Asia Conference, held in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Woottiphong Khongchuttiratt, operations and maintenance director of Tri Energy, accepted the award on the company's behalf.
Tri Energy's Ratchaburi plant is Thailand's first Greenfield Independent Power Producer and has been in operation since 2000. The combined-cycle plant uses two GE 9FA turbines and produces approximately 700 megawatts of power for sale to the Electrical Generation Authority of Thailand.
The plant is an excellent example in the Asia-Pacific region of best practices in the following areas:
1. Personnel safety -- This is one of Tri Energy's highest objectives. Using GE's vast resources in the environmental health and safety area, Tri Energy has launched extensive employee training and other efforts to promote a culture of safety. In 2007 the site achieved a milestone of one million man-hours without a lost-time incident. The site also has received five annual national safety awards from the Thai government.
2. Environmental responsibility -- Tri Energy strives to have minimal environmental impact on the local community. Using the latest GE technology, emissions of CO and NOx are maintained at about one-third of the limit allowed under the site's environmental operating permit.
3. World-class plant performance -- Tri Energy's plant follows a rigorous preventative maintenance schedule, using the latest techniques to predict failure and take proactive measures to guard against breakdown. All of GE's onsite gas turbines are monitored remotely by GE. Using these maintenance practices and carefully constructed operational instructions, the Tri Energy plant has achieved very high reliability and availability standards.
"Both Tri Energy and GE have committed to continual improvement of plant processes and techniques for plant management and operation. All of these quality management systems have been integrated into the day-to-day operation, ensuring world-class performance of the plant to optimize the financial returns for Tri Energy," said Kovit Kantapasara, GE Energy CEO for Thailand.
The site became ISO 9001-certified within the first two years of operation, gained ISO environmental certification and recently became certified in the Chevron quality management system for operational excellence.
About GE Energy
GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2007 revenue of $22 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE's corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges.
About GE
GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com. GE is Imagination at Work.
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Howard Masto
Masto Public Relations
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Ken Darling
Masto Public Relations
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Nicole Yeong