Coal Age

JUL 2016

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38 www.coalage.com July 2016 operating ideas GE Introduces Digital Technology to Enhance Efficiency GE Introduces Digital Technology to Enhance Efficiency GE Introduces Digital Technology to Enhance Efficiency and Reduce Emissions of Coal-Fired Plants and Reduce Emissions of Coal-Fired Plants At its Minds + Machines event in Paris, GE Power recently unveiled the Digital Pow- er Plant for Steam, a suite of technologies that can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving the perfor- mance and efficiency of coal-fired steam power plants. Improving the efficiency of coal-fired plants is one of the toughest challenges in the electricity industry today. Plant technology is typically more mature, systems are highly complex and average efficiency rates are low. "The world is going to need 50% more power in the next 20 years and it will need to be affordable, accessible, reliable and sustainable," said Steve Bolze, GE Power president and CEO. "In order to meet these needs and achieve the Paris COP21 goals, companies must embrace digital technologies that can enable and accelerate transformation to help decarbonize the world. Together, with our customers, we're on a journey to realize the true power of leveraging software and analytics to provide com- prehensive digital solutions that drive greater efficiencies that are environ- mentally compatible." By monitoring and analyzing data from more than 10,000 sensor inputs across the plant, GE's Digital Power Plant for Steam helps plant operators make smarter decisions about how to optimally run their power plants, achieving better performance, greater efficiency and im- proved reliability while lowering environ- mental impact. This solution helps elim- inate 0.58 Gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions — equivalent of removing 120 million cars from the road and adding 550 million square miles of forest absorbing CO 2 from the atmosphere and switching 20 billion incandescent bulbs to LED. Coal is forecast to remain the world's second-largest energy source through 2030, and an even more critical source of elec- tricity in developing economies such as In- dia, China, the Middle East and Africa. The ability of nations to meet emissions goals set out in the Paris COP21 agreement, while meeting growing demand for electricity, will depend on the ability of fossil fuel-powered plants such as coal to deliver power more flexibly, responsively and cleanly. "In a post-COP21 world, we believe the best results will come from balancing a mix of fuel sources and creating maximum efficien- cy through the power of digital," said Andreas Lusch, president and CEO of GE's Steam Power Systems. "By combining the physical strengths of our legacy Alstom steam technol- ogies with GE's industry-leading digital capa- bilities, we can help our customers enhance the operating performance of their power plants to increase efficiency, lower emissions and reduce cost." GE Power released new Digital Power Plant software designed to play a signifi- cant role in helping nations meet COP21 greenhouse gas emissions goals. Coal plants generate 40% of the world's electricity. GE Power's new software can re- duce CO 2 emissions from those plants by 3%. With GE's advanced controls and cyber security software, the Digital Power Plant for Steam interprets data drawn from sen- sors across the power plant, highlights key factors that may affect performance (such as fuel quality, plant aging and ambient conditions) and takes appropriate action through a closed-loop control system. GE Power's new software can reduce CO 2 emissions from those plants by 3% and reduce fuel consumption by 67,000 tons of

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