The GE Brief: September 21, 2021

CONSTRUCTION TIME
 
Vineyard Wind, the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the U.S., secured $2.3 billion in financing to begin construction. “That means manufacturers like General Electric Co., which is supplying the project’s 62 turbines, can start procuring materials and hiring workers,” Reuters reported. “There have been many milestones passed over the last several months, from securing the final federal permits to signing the U.S.’s first offshore wind project labor agreement,” said Vineyard Wind CEO Lars T. Pedersen. “Achieving financial close is the most important of all milestones because today we finally move from talking about offshore wind to delivering offshore wind at scale in the U.S.”
 
Sea change: Vineyard Wind 1 is projected to generate 800 megawatts (MW) and supply renewable electricity to thousands of U.S. homes. Integral to its design are GE’s Haliade-X offshore wind turbines. Each of these turbines — the most powerful built to date — can generate between 12 MW and 14 MW, depending on the needs of a given project. Using the higher-efficiency Haliade-X allowed the wind farm to reduce the number of turbines it needs from 108 to 62.
 
Find out more about Vineyard Wind here and the Haliade-X here.
 

EDISON’S GHOST IN THE GRID MACHINE
 
Thomas Edison famously lost the “war of currents” when the organizers of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 picked George Westinghouse’s alternating current system (AC) over the GE founder’s direct current (DC). But he quickly pivoted. GE embraced AC and in 1895 flipped the switch on the first long-distance high-voltage AC power grid in the U.S., linking the Folsom hydroelectric plant in California to Sacramento, some 22 miles away. On the 126th anniversary of the first power transmission, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) installed a memorial plaque July 13 at the still-standing Folsom station and named it one of its milestones.
 
A powerful statement: The Folsom grid and the power plant — it included four 750-kilowatt GE generators made in Schenectady, New York — was perhaps a small victory for Edison, but it still has a huge impact today. That’s because the station generated three-phase electrical current oscillating at 60 hertz, the frequency that’s now the standard across North America, parts of South America, Japan, South Korea and other parts of the world. The frequency is also one reason why GE makes two kinds of its record-breaking HA gas turbines — the 9HA for 50hz countries in Europe and 7HA for 60hz markets in the U.S. GE still builds AC grid equipment and, in a twist, some of the most modern grids — high-voltage direct current lines (HVDC) that bring power onshore from offshore wind farms, for example — build on Edison’s old DC ideas. “When you flip the light switch, the light must come on regardless of its power source, because behind the scenes, a modern, reliable and resilient grid is in operation,” says Jérôme Pécresse, president and CEO of GE Renewable Energy.
 
Read more about how Edison and GE turned lemons into lemonade here.

HYBRID APPROACH
 
In other energy news, Alok Nanda, CEO of GE’s John F. Welch Technology Center (pictured above) in Bengaluru, called for a “holistic approach” to power generation at last week's India Innovation Summit, and highlighted energy hybrids mixing wind, solar, storage and gas generation as a way to “make a real change” in decarbonizing the world and help make electricity “affordable, reliable and sustainable while meeting energy security needs,” the Times of India reported. The India Innovation Summit is the flagship event of the Confederation of Indian Industry, which has been around for 125 years and includes some 300,000 businesses.
 
Under one roof: The center Nanda leads isn’t just about hybrids. It celebrated its 21st birthday on Sept. 17 and has come to play an outsize role in the way GE innovates, designs products and services, and works with customers around the world. The facility employs more than 3,500 people with doctorates, along with engineers and other specialists, and serves as a home to GE Research and GE businesses including Aviation, Healthcare, Power and Renewable Energy. “We understand GE, we understand the products, we understand the customers, and it’s just awesome to finally have that in one place,” Nanda said.
 
Read more about the work at the John F. Welch Technology Center here.
 

FLYING BY NUMBERS
 
Bombardier’s next-generation Challenger 3500 business jet, which the Canadian aircraft maker unveiled last week, includes GE Aviation’s Smart Link Plus system and allows the plane to transmit data in real time so that operators can “get visibility to crucial aircraft data, make better and faster data-driven maintenance decisions and improve aircraft availability.” Says GE Digital’s Andrew Coleman: “Think about an Apple Watch. It gives you advice every day on how many steps you took, what your heart rate was. We’re giving pilots this same level of visibility into how they fly.”
 
Brawn and brains: The Smart Link Plus already serves on Bombardier’s Global 7500 luxury jets (pictured above), which have been making headlines and setting records. Powered by a pair of Passport engines built by GE Aviation, the Global 7500 set a performance record in October 2019 by flying direct from Sydney to Detroit, some 9,465 miles away. But the plane’s also got smarts. In fact, it’s an important part of Bombardier’s plan to build a fleet of “fully connected aircraft” that bring to business aviation the same operational rigor and predictability common to commercial flight.
 
GE Reports got a close look at the Global 7500. You can read about it here.

 

RELIEF FOR REFUGEES
 
The GE Foundation donated $100,000 to support the relocation of Afghan families into communities across the U.S. The money will fund Team Rubicon, a nonprofit that works with veterans and uses their skills and experience to help people prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters and humanitarian crises.
 
Help in deed: Since 2020, the GE Foundation’s philanthropic contributions in disaster relief have totaled nearly $5.4 million, much of it focused on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest donation will help Team Rubicon “support the management and coordination of donated goods and distribution in various locations; site management and logistical support, including language services, COVID-19 vaccinations and visa services at arrival sites; and housing assistance for newly arrived families,” the foundation said. In addition to the organization’s donation, GE employees can support relief efforts through its Matching Gifts Program. 
 
Find out more about the donation here.

— QUOTE OF THE DAY —

“With the signing of these agreements, we now have everything in place to start construction, launching an industry that will immediately start to create jobs and make a significant contribution to meet Massachusetts’ carbon pollution reduction targets.”
— Lars T. Pedersen, Vineyard Wind CEO

Quote: GE Reports. Images: GE Renewable Energy, Museum of Innovation and Science Schenectady, GE, Bombardier, Getty Images.