Ireland’s Whitegate Power Plant Identifies Potential €1.2 Million Cost Avoidance in First Year with GE’s Asset Performance
Management Software
- With GE’s APM Online Condition Monitoring Software, Irish Utility Bord Gáis Energy Identified
Potential €1.2 Million Cost Avoidance at County Cork Combined-Cycle Power Plant
- APM Solution Allows Operators to Predict Equipment Problems, Avoid Costly Unplanned
Outages
- Milestone Utility Project Helps to Usher in Global Digital Transformation of Energy
Bord Gáis Energy, one of the Republic of Ireland’s leading utilities and a European pioneer in the digital transformation of the
energy industry, has, in the first year of deployment, identified a potential cost avoidance of €1.2 million after its Whitegate
Power Plant in County Cork became the world’s first power plant to deploy GE’s (NYSE:GE) Asset Performance Management (APM) software. Powered by the cloud-based enterprise Predix* platform, this Digital Power Plant software application showcases an agile digital infrastructure built for the Industrial
Internet.
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Irish utility Bord Gáis Energy has identified a potential cost avoidance of €1.2 million after its Whitegate Power
Plant became the world's first station to deploy GE's Asset Performance Management software. (Photo: Business Wire)
GE announced the impressive APM results during POWER-GEN Europe 2016, the European power generation industry’s annual conference
that is being held in Milan.
“We needed an online condition-based monitoring solution that would help ensure Whitegate’s continuous operation with no
unplanned downtime,” said Rory Griffin, operations engineer—Whitegate, Asset Operations for Bord Gáis Energy. “We selected GE’s
Asset Performance Management solution because it helps us predict potential problems with our equipment and avoid costly unplanned
outages. GE’s new software technology is an ideal solution to help increase our plant’s reliability and availability while making
the most of our scheduled maintenance outages.”
Implementation of GE’s APM solution can significantly reduce plant downtime, with the early warning capabilities allowing for
more efficient outage management. The result of this digital transformation has enabled Whitegate to identify a potential cost
avoidance of €1.2 million in its first year of operation and possible future cost avoidance of an additional €1.2 million.
“We are proud to collaborate with Bord Gáis Energy to showcase the power of GE’s Asset Performance Management software to create
a smarter, more resilient Whitegate Power Plant,” said Paul McElhinney, president and CEO of GE’s Power Services business. “This
project is a great example of how utilities can tap into the power of industrial-scale data analytics to optimize the availability
of their generating facilities. With greater availability, Whitegate is better prepared to compete against other power plants for a
higher dispatch position.”
Bord Gáis Energy also installed APM as part of preparing Whitegate to respond to future grid challenges—including greater
renewables integration. The Irish government’s 2020 targets are aiming for 40 percent of gross electricity consumption to come from
renewable energy, thus creating a greater requirement for reliable, on-demand generation capacity.
GE’s APM system provides Whitegate with enhanced, 24/7 digital diagnostics capabilities that automatically anticipate
operational anomalies while still providing a single, consolidated view of plant performance. Whitegate did not have access to this
type of data before the APM installation. Previously, plant operators relied on offline condition-based monitoring that required
significant manual efforts to effectively detect failures.
Using a network of both existing and supplementary sensors placed throughout the 445-megawatt, combined-cycle power plant, the
APM predictive maintenance system has the ability to increase the station’s reliability and availability while reducing unnecessary
maintenance costs. With APM, early warnings of failure mechanisms—drawing from more than 300 analytics—detect when plant components
are about to fail, allowing for more efficient outage management.
As a result of the APM installation, Whitegate has the opportunity for improved operational reliability and possible financial
savings, with a potential €1.2 million cost avoidance associated with a turning gear alert alone. In one situation, the APM
solution helped Whitegate engineers to identify and correct an improperly installed component, correcting an overconsumption on
supplementary firing gas usage. In all, the integrated APM solution has resulted in maintaining the availability of the covered
equipment and 21 additional “catches” to be monetized.
GE, which provided Whitegate’s original generation equipment, operates and maintains the station for Bord Gáis Energy under a
12-year service agreement. Whitegate began operating in November 2010, generating enough electricity to meet the needs of 300,000
homes in Ireland. The station can produce up to 10 percent of the country’s peak demand electricity needs.
Bord Gáis Energy is a subsidiary of the Centrica Group. For more information about the Whitegate Power Station project, please
click here.
GE’s APM software is a critical component of GE’s new Digital Power Plant, which offers a virtual “digital twin” of a power
plant’s systems to enhance an operator’s capability to add value throughout the business.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined
machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of
knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect.
Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale,
GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com
About GE Power
GE Power is a world leader in power generation with deep domain expertise to help customers deliver electricity from a wide
spectrum of fuel sources. We are transforming the electricity industry with the digital power plant, the world’s largest and most
efficient gas turbine, full balance of plant, upgrade and service solutions as well as our data-leveraging software. Our innovative
technologies and digital offerings help make power more affordable, reliable, accessible and sustainable.
For more information, visit the company's website at www.gepower.com. Follow GE Power on Twitter @GE_Power and on LinkedIn at GE Power.
About GE’s Power Services Business
GE’s Power Services business, headquartered in Baden, Switzerland, delivers world-class solutions for our customers across total
plant assets and their operational lifetimes. This organization supports 2,800+ customers worldwide with an installed base of
28,000+ power generation assets, which includes other OEMs, and taps into the Industrial Internet to improve the performance of our
solutions over the entire life cycle through the power of software and big data analytics.
For more information, please visit powergen.gepower.com.
* Trademark of General Electric Company; may be registered in one or more countries.
GE Power - Power Services
Laura Aresi
T +39 02 67335622
M +39 335 6978871
laura.aresi@ge.com
or
Masto Public Relations
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