March 21, 2019
NEW GAS POWER GENERATION
GE said recently it would outfit a new power plant in eastern Ohio with the world’s largest and most efficient turbine and other heavy-duty technology. When it opens in late 2021, the 485-megawatt power station will churn out electricity for industrial customers as well as consumers. The beating heart of the plant will be GE’s 7HA turbine, the same model that operates inside the world’s most efficient combined cycle power plant producing alternating current that oscillates at 60Hz per second. That power plant, located in Japan and operated by Chubu Electric Power, converted 63.08 percent of its fuel energy into electricity in 2018. A French power station using the 9HA version on the turbine designed for 50Hz grids secured GE’s first efficiency record in 2016.
The big picture: GE’s HA gas turbines have accumulated more than 250,000 operating hours since launch in 2016, and the company has received more than 85 orders from over 35 customers in 16-plus countries. The order for the American power plant — the Long Ridge Energy Generation Project in Hannibal, Ohio — also includes a GE steam turbine and generator, one heat recovery generator (HRSG), and a multiyear services agreement.
Find out more here about how HA turbines are changing the power industry.
WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
The 'global health crisis' typically brings to mind the AIDS epidemic or the latest Ebola outbreak. Dr. David Barash, chief medical officer at the GE Foundation, GE’s philanthropic arm, took a different tack this week, addressing the lack of safe and affordable surgery in two-thirds of the world. Speaking before the Arnhold Institute for Global Health in New York City, he pointed to a study that estimates some 17 million people die each year because they lack access to safe surgery. Barash, the GE Foundation and its partners are working to change that through Safe Surgery 2020, an organization seeking to make essential and emergency care available in remote parts of Africa and Southeast Asia.
Training the trainers: Safe Surgery 2020 launched in 2015. Funded in part by the GE Foundation, it focuses on “training trainers,” teaching local health professionals new skills that include managing surgical teams, running safer anesthesia, improving safety and outcomes for medical procedures like cesarean sections, and carrying out proper equipment sterilization. The organization also promotes safety guidelines from the World Health Organization, encouraging surgical workers to review them before each surgery like pilots who run through their checklists before takeoff. So far, Safe Surgery 2020 has trained more than 1,200 surgical workers in Tanzania and Ethiopia, and it has started expanding into Southeast Asia. The idea is that newly-skilled healthcare workers will pass on better surgical practices to colleagues throughout the region and a new generation of caregivers, making safer surgeries a reality for all.
Read more about the work Safe Surgery 2020 is doing here.
MARVELOUS METAL
The metal alloy cobalt-chromium-iron-nickel-manganese (CoCrFeNiMn) is like a comic book superhero. It can operate in very low temperatures and handle stress and harsh conditions. Now it turns out that 3D printing can make it even stronger. When researchers at the A*STAR Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology and their partners recently printed and tested samples from the alloy, they could withstand almost twice the stress than its cousins made in a more conventional way.
Going strong: The alloy’s newfound strength stems partly from the minuscule size of its crystals. Large crystals tend to crack in a uniform fashion, so when one slips out of the place, it forces others to follow suit. However, the 3D-printed sample’s smaller crystal grains do not align as well, which stops the fracture, at least for a while. As a result, 3D printing could deliver stronger metals in the future. Iron Man, watch out.
Go here to find out more about 3D-printing alloys.
— VIDEO OF THE WEEK —
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“When you address safe surgery…you’re not just going to benefit the surgical patient, but you’re also going to benefit all the patients that are serviced at that hospital.”
— Cheri Reynolds, director of program development at Assist International
Quote: GE Reports. Image: GE.
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