General Electric has expanded its suite of software for power producers, grid operators and energy managers, adding new tools to help customers reduce unplanned downtime and operations and maintenance costs.
GE’s latest release of Digital Power Plant software for gas, steam and nuclear plants features new tools to help customers reduce unplanned downtime by up to 5%, reduce false positive alerts by up to 75% and reduce operations and maintenance costs by up to 25%. It also includes software that provides power producers “with accurate and timely plant operating capacity information which energy traders can use to generate incremental revenues” GE said.
GE highlighted how some 8% of all generated electricity “never reaches its intended customer due to grid outages”, adding that “to address this challenge, GE has introduced a new set of Intelligent Digital Substation solutions for the electrical grid. “
These include GE’s asset monitoring & diagnostics and automation applications, aimed at improving maintenance scheduling, optimise asset utilisation, prevent failures and increase reliability of electrical grids by reducing power outage probability and duration.
Moreover, a new energy management tool from Current – GE's digital startup - powered by GE, “will help managers of commercial and industrial facilities use energy more efficiently” the company said.
“Today’s announcements represent another major step forward in the digitalization of the industry” said Ganesh Bell, chief digital officer, GE Power. “I believe we will look back on 2016 as a tipping point when digital transformation went mainstream.”