The initial schedule was for 35 days but was extended to 69 days due to the customer’s expanded work scope and the 14-day quarantine before the project started. Engineers from GE and FieldCore implemented safety measures to ensure the steady operation of the plant outage. They managed to deliver the project more than one day ahead of schedule.
On-site engineers actively quarantined
The COVID-19 outbreak brought “unexpected and unprecedented difficulties” for the inspection project, Xu Yong, General Manager at Shenzhen Baochang Power Plant Co., said, stressing GE’s ability to do it safely and in a timely manner was critical to the success of the project.
“During the most severe period of the pandemic, our 21 on-site engineers volunteered to go to the site and actively quarantine while solving logistical problems and guaranteeing the end result,” said Xu Xin, China OTR leader, GE Gas Power.
The upgrade was important to ensure the Baochang Power Plant was back up and running “as quickly as possible,” he stressed and “the collaboration with Shenzhen Baochang was crucial to monitor and cope with the fast-moving situation”
Most complex overhaul of 9E turbine
The latest modernization project was complex and involved a lot of lifting work, with works focused on replacing the aging parts of the two turbine units.
According to GE, it was “the most complete inspection of the gas turbine, through overhaul and necessary replacement for all detachable parts.” These made up more than 300 items, including the large axial, rotor, hot gas path, compressor, combustion and the turbine’s air inlet system.
In Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, GE has the largest installed base for the 9E gas turbine in China. In April 2019, GE announced that it had successfully completed the world’s first installation of its DLN1.0+ with Ultra Low NOx combustion upgrade on nine GE 9E gas turbines at five power generation enterprises to help improve air quality and public health throughout China by reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.