GE’s Distributed Power and engineering company Clarke Energy are working together towards the adoption of Industrial Internet solutions across Clarke Energy’s installed base GE’s Jenbacher engines.
As part of its contractual service agreements (CSAs), Clarke Energy, an authorised distributor and service provider for GE’s Jenbacher gas and diesel engines, will connect more than 700 assets globally to GE’s myPlant Asset Performance Management (APM) solution “providing customers with improved reliability, availability and performance for GE’s Jenbacher gas engines and associated balance of plant equipment,” the two companies said in a joint statement.
“GE’s myPlant APM solution for power generation and gas compression plants transforms data into actionable intelligence by joining analytics with domain experts” they said.
“It also will create a single source of data for all power generation and gas compression assets across the active installed fleet, utilizing predictive analytics to identify issues before they occur, reducing downtime and extending asset life while still balancing maintenance costs with operation risk.”
“With APM, designated Clarke Energy engineers are automatically notified about unscheduled generator stops at customer sites - such as engine trips - via text message or email,” explained Anthony Hayes, group IT director at Clarke Energy. “Clarke Energy’s service engineers monitor engine performance from different locations to diagnose problems and support the operator on-site to resolve the issue, reducing site manpower requirements and increasing engine availability” he added.
The companies said downtime from a generator bearing failure on a 3.3 MW Jenbacher J620 gas engine could range from six to eight weeks and cost $160,000 in lost revenue, depending on feed-in tariffs and downtime.
“GE’s monitoring solutions enabled with factory engineer-developed analytics “are essential to using data-enabled decisions to optimize service delivery” the companies stressed, adding that “using data to better predict and prepare for upcoming maintenance will allow Clarke Energy to better manage inventory, enhance resource planning and execute maintenance.”