The GE Brief: February 16, 2022
Uplifting News
It’s been a few months since Boeing showed to the public its latest passenger jet, the 777X. But the plane keeps making headlines. In January, Qatar Airways became the launch customer for the freight version of the jet, and this week Singapore Airlines announced an additional order for 22 GE9X engines to power its fleet of Boeing 777-9 aircraft, the largest version of the 777X, capable of carrying of up to 426 passengers. The order, which includes a 12-year services contract, is valued at $2.8 billion at list price. GE Reports has the story here.
Fun fact: Did you know that the GE9X is the most powerful jet engine in the world? Learn more here and look at our infographic here.
Catching Carbon
The Department of Energy will be funding with $5.77 million a GE-led study looking at ways of integrating carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) while reducing CO2 emissions in a fully functioning natural gas power plant by up to 95%. GE engineers and their peers from Southern Company, Linde Engineering, BASF and Kiewit expect to spend 18 months studying the engineering, cost and integration of the proposed CCUS project, focused on the James M. Barry power plant in Alabama, with the goal of preserving the attributes of a natural gas combined-cycle plant that are critical to helping bring more weather-dependent renewables online. Read more here.
GE is also part of a CCUS and hydrogen-utilization industrial alliance in the northern Appalachian region. That story is here.
Fun fact: There are many ways the power industry can lower its carbon footprint, and there’s no better way to learn about them than from GE Gas Power’s award-winning “Cutting Carbon” podcast. Look here.
Small Reactors, Big Potential
The Tennessee Valley Authority, a power utility that covers a large part of the eastern U.S., ratified a new initiative to explore advanced nuclear technology to help it reach its decarbonization goals. Its New Nuclear Program aims to provide up to $200 million to “examine advanced reactor technology options for potential, future deployment” at its Clinch River site in Tennessee and “other potential site locations in anticipation of future TVA system needs.” Specifically, TVA is looking at GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) design, the BWRX-300. GE Reports has the story here.
Fun fact: SMRs could develop into a $150 billion market by 2040, according to an independent report from PwC. Find out why Canada wants to become a global hub for the technology here.
Second Wind
GE Renewable Energy will support a wind-blade-recycling project in Spain launched by the utility Endesa and partners PreZero España and Reciclalia Composite. The three Spanish companies will invest 8.5 million euros ($9.6 million) in a complex located in Cubillos del Sil in Spain. They plan to begin construction next year and aim to recycle more than 6,000 tons per year of fiberglass and carbon fiber from wind turbine blades. Find out more here.
Fun fact: The blades for GE Renewable Energy’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbines measure 107 meters. That’s longer than a football field. Peek inside the factory where they make them here.
The 5 Coolest Things On Earth ?
1. A bionic pacemaker aimed at heart failure.
2. Lithium-sulfur batteries that boost storage capacity.
3. A $4 water desalination system.
4. A protein that puts cancer cells in a coma.
5. A plant-based composite as hard as aluminum.
— Quote Of The Day —
“The Barry project will represent a fundamental change in how the plant will operate. CCUS projects need to look at the plant in a holistic way in order to be successful.”
— John Sholes, principal investigator for the DOE FEED study at GE
Quote: GE Reports. Images: Boeing, GE Gas Power, NK Chu, GE Hitachi.