Power markets are becoming very dynamic, especially in deregulated markets where fuel and/or electricity prices can fluctuate significantly. Dispatch Optimizer allows a combined cycle power plant operator to respond in real-time to market changes and generate significant additional revenue through a dynamic "banking" of MWh and augmented MW output via peak-firing under the right market conditions, while maintaining the same operation interval.
GE Research developed this solution through a combination of online digital twin models that capture GE domain knowledge for plant performance and gas turbine parts life, and a novel optimizer that solves a very large optimization problem in real-time. A diverse team with expertise in parts lifing, plant performance modeling, controls & optimization, SW deployment and the Edge OS platform came together with the GE Power team to make this technology a commercial product.
Dispatch Optimizer is a first product in combined cycle power plant real-time optimization, deployed on GE’s Edge platform at the plant in closed-loop with Mark VIe unit controls to deliver customer value through a digital solution.
Dispatch Optimizer is a commercial product being deployed at multiple customer power plants, currently focussed on 7FA and 7HA fleet with an aim to expand to other frames. The digital solution integrates domain knowledge and market information to deliver new value estimated to be $2-5MM over a typical 32K interval depending on the plant size, operation and market conditions. GE Research has a broad expertise spanning multiple domains including life and performance modeling, controls, estimation & optimization algorithms, SW deployment and Edge OS platform that enabled the team to develop MVPs together with GE Power team. Equally important, access to a customer site to deploy and test these MVPs provided valuable lessons and insights to rapidly mature the MVPs into a first generation product.
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Our Expertise
Capabilities utilized for Dispatch Optimizer for Heavy-Duty Gas Turbines project
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Embedded Computing
Integrating computation with physical processes to create the joint optimization of algorithms, software and hardware
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Physical-Digital Analytics
Leveraging operational data, physical-based simulations and AI models to optimize production, improve quality, reduce costs and yield operational efficiency
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Industrial Software
Bringing robust software development practices to interdisciplinary engineering teams to realize faster and more profitable outcomes
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Real-Time Optimization
Combining Digital Twins, market data, and optimization algorithms to create supervisory control algorithms that will maximize business outcomes
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Model-Based Controls
Developing advanced multi-variable model-based control algorithms that leverage online models to provide stability and improve transient performance and operability
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Power Systems
Delivering transformative analytics and modeling to revolutionize the operations, management and performance of electric power systems
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