The GE Brief: December 21, 2021
Digital Power
Solutions for a digital grid have already grown into the largest segment of GE Digital’s portfolio of industrial software. This week, the GE unit added a new tool to its arsenal. It announced plans to acquire Opus One Solutions Energy Corp., a Canadian software company specializing in developing software for the management of distributed energy resources (DERs), like solar and wind farms, energy storage and other sources. “Electric utilities around the world face new obstacles with the rapid growth of renewables and DERs,” said Jim Walsh, general manager of GE Digital’s Grid Software business. “With increased demand for renewable energy and electric vehicles in every region, challenges for grid and market operators are more acute every day.” Read more here.
Blue Sky Thinking
GE Aviation makes more than just jet engines. Its Systems business, which employs some 5,000 people worldwide, builds avionics, core computing systems and other technology for the industry, says Brad Mottier, its president and CEO. Born into a flying family, Mottier has lived much of his life on planes. He even flew himself to his first job interview. This summer, GE Reports caught up with Mottier at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow, which he was visiting for the 40th time. Mottier had sustainability on his mind, including hybrid-electric and electric flight. Read what he had to say here.
Tom Vilsack Tours GE Aviation, Talks SAF
The Biden administration has set a goal of domestically producing 35 billion gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) per year by 2050. That’s why, earlier this month, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack toured GE Aviation’s headquarters outside Cincinnati. The USDA is studying the “farm to fuel” pipeline to produce the crops needed to make SAF. GE has been researching SAF, and its engines have recently powered several pioneering flights. Learn more here.
In December, Ontario Power Generation selected GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to build the first grid-scale small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) in Canada and bring it online by the end of the decade. Now the technology is drawing interest from Europe. Last week, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, the Canadian nuclear industry company BWXT and Poland’s Synthos Green Energy (SGE) announced their intention to cooperate in deploying at least 10 of GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 SMRs in Poland by the early 2030s. Read more about the BWRX-300 here and about the new agreement here.
The 5 Coolest Things On Earth ?
1. A nano-size camera that takes crisp images with the help of AI.
2. The EV-charging network planned for major highways across the U.S. by 2023.
3. Self-sufficient energy grids to keep power on when disaster strikes.
4. Ridding the body of "zombie cells" that contribute to age-related diseases.
5. A vaccine that could offer protection against a range of tick-borne illnesses.
— Quote Of The Day —
“Electric flight is coming, and the aircraft of the future may not look like anything we have now.”
— Brad Mottier, president and CEO, GE Aviation Systems
Quote: GE Reports. Images: Getty Images, GE Reports, GE Aviation, GE Hitachi.