By summer, some new installations that will come online and some of the units undergoing service work will be ready for grid-connection as well, Joseph Anis, CEO of GE gas power services in the Middle East and Africa said, specifying “it is in the range of about 3 GW of power.”
Orders from a $14 billion scheme to rebuild Iraq’s electricity infrastructure under a have been fought over by GE and Siemens. The German manufacturer earlier secured contracts €700 million ($785m) for the construction of a 500 MW gas-fired power plant, the upgrade of 40 gas turbines and the installation of 13 substations and 34 transformers across Iraq.
Rival GE, meanwhile, in September won a contract to develop Besmaya phase-3. The mega project will add 1.500 MW of capacity to the grid by 2021, raising total capacity to 4,500 MW. During the construction phase, up to 1,200 people will be employed and GE will provide four 9F gas turbines and four generators for the project.
According to Mr. Anis, some of the gas turbines being installed at Besmaya may be “available for the summer,” with full combined-cycle operation of the phase-3 unit slated to start in 12 to 14 months.
GE is mourning the death of Jack Welch, who transformed the company between 1981 and 2001 by implementing efficiencies. Under his tenure, GE’s grew from $12 billion to a staggering $410 billion. Since then, the U.S. engineering giant’s fortunes fell in the 2008 financial crisis and due to the overly expensive Alstom takeover. Today, GE’s market capitalisation is valued at just under $100 billion.
