The GE Brief – December 10, 2021
Meet The Test Pilot Of Boeing’s 777X
Heather Ross flew Air Force jets in the Gulf War and piloted passenger planes for a major U.S. airline before becoming a test pilot at Boeing. But nothing compares to the aircraft she’s flying now. In mid-November, she brought to the Dubai Airshow the Boeing 777X, the plane-maker’s latest wide-body jet, powered by GE Aviation’s GE9X engines, for its much-anticipated public debut. As deputy chief pilot for the 777X program, Ross is part of the team making sure the jet will be ready to enter service. GE Reports spoke with her on board the jet in Dubai. Read the story here.
Natural Gas + Hydrogen = Less Carbon
GE Gas Power’s family of HA — high-efficiency, air-cooled — gas turbines are some of the most efficient in the world, helping power plants in Europe and Asia set efficiency records. Now, GE and Harbin Electric Corporation have announced that two GE 9HA.01 turbines will be installed in China’s Guangdong Province, where the state-owned utility will operate them on a blend of natural gas and up to 10% hydrogen. A 10% hydrogen-blended natural-gas-fired combined-cycle plant has roughly 40% of the CO2 emissions of a similarly sized coal plant. The amount of hydrogen in the fuel mix can grow and help this highly populated area reduce its carbon footprint further. Read about the Guangdong project here.
HA Gas Turbines Fill The Gap in Brazil
Across the world in Brazil, GE’s HA gas turbines are filling a different need. In that country’s Northeast region, renewables like wind and hydropower are major sources of energy, but when the wind isn’t blowing or reservoirs run low because of drought, the region needs to pull from other sources. One of those is now Porto de Sergipe I, Latin America’s largest combined-cycle gas-fired power plant, where three GE 7HA.02 gas turbines help to meet up to 15% of the demand. Brazil also benefits from an interconnected power grid, which can allow the electricity generated by the plant to be shipped almost anywhere in the country. Read more about the project here.
New Nuclear Power
A week after Ontario Power Generation selected GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to build the first grid-scale small nuclear reactor in Canada and bring it online by the end of the decade, the technology is drawing interest from Europe. Poland’s PKN ORLEN and Synthos Green Energy have signed an investment agreement to set up a joint venture, ORLEN Synthos Green Energy, whose key aim will be to prepare and commercialize small nuclear reactor technology, particularly GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 reactors, in the country. Read more about the BWRX-300 here and about the new agreement here.
A Look At GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 Small Modular Reactor
Small modular nuclear reactors are a powerful way to help countries decarbonize and meet their climate goals. GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor utilizes licensed and proven nuclear fuel designs and other components. Through dramatic design simplification, GE Hitachi projects the BWRX-300 will require significantly less capital cost per megawatt compared with other water-cooled SMR designs or existing large nuclear reactor designs.
— Quote Of The Day —
“Be curious. There’s not a day when I don’t learn something new.”
— Heather Ross, test pilot for the Boeing 777X program
Quote: GE Reports. Images: GE Aviation, Guangdong Energy Group, GE Gas Power, GE Hitachi. Video: GE Reports.