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The GE Brief – January 29, 2019

January 29, 2019
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January 29, 2019



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GE TURBINES TO SPIN IN THE UAE


GE and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation have announced they’ve signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with the UAE’s Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) to develop, build and operate a 1.8-gigawatt combined-cycle power plant. GE will supply the power station with three HA turbines, the largest and most efficient heavy-duty gas turbine in the world, along with other machinery. The three HA units are expected to help SEWA reduce carbon emissions by up to 4 million tons a year — the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off UAE roads.

Globe trotter: The fastest-growing fleet of heavy-duty gas turbines in the world, the HA is no stranger to international acclaim. In Japan, it set a world record for powering the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plant, and it helped a French power plant achieve a best-in-class 62.2 percent net combined-cycle efficiency. The UAE deal marks another milestone in a long relationship between SEWA and GE, whose technologies generate up to 60 percent of Sharjah’s electricity today. Scott Strazik, president and CEO of GE Gas Power, said, “SEWA has a clear vision for Sharjah’s power sector, and GE is honored to partner with Sumitomo to deliver more efficient, reliable and sustainable power for residential and industrial users in Sharjah.”

Find out where the HA is going by seeing where it’s already been. Click here to learn more about the turbine’s recent successes.

FULL STEAM AHEAD


A facility currently under construction in Poland could be the country’s last coal-fired power plant — but that doesn’t mean the technology inside it has no future. The Ostroleka C station is being built by GE’s Steam Power business to operate more cleanly and efficiently than other coal-burning operations. It’ll accomplish that goal with ultra-supercritical equipment, which boosts efficiency by more than a third compared to the average coal plant. When Ostroleka C comes online in 2023, it’s expected to provide 1,000 megawatts of capacity, powering up to 300,000 homes.

Supercritical superefficiency: At conditions of extreme heat and titanic pressure, steam turns into a supercritical fluid — one that behaves simultaneously like a liquid and a gas. GE Steam Power’s latest boilers and turbines use special steel alloys and designs that allow engineers to heat and pressurize steam to the max, increasing the conversion of thermal energy into electricity and leading plants to operate at record-breaking levels of efficiency. The design allows operators to reach full speed — or load, in industry parlance — in less than 30 minutes, so utilities can ramp up production when power from wind farms slacks off. The plant has enough capacity to back up 330 wind turbines or 20,000 solar panels. According to GE Steam Power’s Michael Keroulle, this kind of technology is capturing the interest of markets far beyond Poland, including in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Dubai, for instance, which “is entirely dependent on importing gas from neighboring countries,” Keroulle said. “When we explained to them the benefits of modern coal generation, they loved it.”

Read more here about ultra-supercritical steam turbine tech.

TUMOR ASSASSIN


When Georgeann Jansson was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of primary liver cancer, the prognosis didn’t look good. Even with surgery and/or aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, Jansson learned she might have only a few months to live — and was on the verge of forgoing treatment altogether. Luckily, she sought another opinion. Jansson ended up in the office of Dr. Marcelo Guimaraes, a vascular interventional radiologist at the Medical University of South Carolina who suggested a highly-targeted, minimally-invasive option that would have her in and out of the hospital in a matter of hours. “It sounded like parole to a prisoner!” Jansson said.

Liver let live: Guimaraes recommended transarterial chemoembolization, or TACE. Using a couple pieces of GE technology — the imaging system GE Discovery IGS 740 and the software solution Liver ASSIST — Guimaraes delivered local chemotherapy to the tumor via catheter. He also released special beads into the blood vessel that reduced the amount of medicine leaving the liver, thereby reducing the chemo’s side effects. Guimaraes paired the procedure with radiofrequency ablation therapy, which uses a heating probe to kill tumors. When Jansson underwent a follow-up MRI a month later, the good news was confirmed: The tumor was dead, without evidence of residual disease or complication. That was more than a year ago, and Jansson’s cancer remains under control today. “Every day is a gift,” she said.

Less is more with these new-wave cancer treatments, but you can still read more here.




COOLEST THINGS ON EARTH


1. Three genetic parents and a baby
In Greece, doctors have used mitochondrial replacement therapy to treat infertility in a case that simple IVF wouldn’t help. Typically used to ensure the healthy development of genetically at-risk babies, the procedure remains controversial. The U.S. banned MRT research in 2015.

2. Sewer sentinels
The British government is funding scientists from four universities to create an army of tiny subterranean robots to identify cracks and make repairs in the country’s aging underground pipe network.

3. Seeing around corners
Electrical engineers from Boston University have learned a way to see around corners, using an ordinary digital camera and an especially clever algorithm.

Read more about this week’s Coolest Things on Earth here.




— QUOTE OF THE DAY —


“A coal plant today has nothing to do with the coal plant of even 15 years ago.”
Michael Keroulle, commercial leader at GE Steam Power







Quote: GE Reports. Image: GE Reports.

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