OREANDA-NEWS.  GE (NYSE: GE) and TransCanada are working together to help recast the energy generation landscape to the benefit of both the power provider and its customers in markets including New York City and Alberta. Driven by GE’s FlexEfficiency* Advantage Advanced Gas Path (AGP) solution, TransCanada’s Ravenswood power plant in New York and Mackay River cogeneration facility in Alberta, Canada, are delivering more needed power to their customers while reducing operational costs and emissions. These efficiencies are translating to more reliable power generation and rate competitiveness for customers including the more than 20 percent of New York City residents whose power is generated by the Ravenswood site.


AGP technology, which couples hardware advancements with performance-enhancing software, was installed on one natural gas-fired GE 7F 3-series gas turbine at each plant. The Ravenswood combined-cycle unit has experienced an output increase of nearly 5 percent from the upgrade, which translates to the capability to power an additional 10,000 New York City households. At Mackay River, the plant’s output has expanded dramatically, with a 10 percent increase in output capacity. Additionally, Ravenswood and Mackay River have experienced fuel efficiency increases of more than 1 percent and 2 percent respectively.


TransCanada expects these efficiencies to result in a total of approximately USD  900,000 in annual fuel cost savings or 223,440 decatherms of fuel for the company, as well as new revenue opportunities for Ravenswood in bidding into the area’s power market. The more efficiently produced power will displace less efficient megawatts on the market with cleaner power, thus reducing overall emissions for the same amount of power generated. The Mackay site has experienced a reduction in emissions of approximately 160 tonnes of NOx per year, which would annually equate to 15,000 fewer cars driving on the streets of Alberta. In New York City, with the power grid having accessibility to more megawatts, residents also can benefit from a more competitive bidding environment, which can help lower the cost of electricity.


With reduced maintenance needs of the now cleaner-burning assets, both plants’ planned maintenance outages will be reduced. These extended periods to generate power will translate to an average of three additional days per year each at Ravenswood and Mackay. For New York City, this power generation reliability is particularly important as the area’s power grid infrastructure continues to be fortified following damage that occurred from Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. For Mackay River’s industrial customer, which requires nearly 24-hour-a-day operation, the AGP solution has positioned it to expand its productivity and revenue opportunities as well.

“Collaborating with GE to implement this flexible solution has been instrumental in enabling our drive for improved efficiency in our operations, and it is great to be able to do so with our existing gas turbine equipment,” said William Taylor, TransCanada’s senior vice president for U.S. and Canadian Power. “The upgrades have been quite effective and are delivering as expected.”

AGP technology exemplifies GE’s FlexEfficiency Advantage solutions portfolio. With the FlexEfficiency Advantage, power providers can deploy GE’s most advanced technologies to their existing assets to expand gas turbine performance and long-term value.

The AGP upgrade was developed through the capabilities of GE’s Predictivity* solutions platform. GE Predictivity solutions for power generation customers harness data analytics from the world’s largest fleet of gas turbines and the expertise of its people to unlock additional performance and value from installed assets. By applying data analytics to more than 100 million hours of operating data, GE customers can more accurately predict their operational outcomes, optimize performance and extend the life of their assets.

“The successes experienced at Ravenswood and Mackay River illustrate what can be accomplished through a partnership approach with customers like TransCanada,” said James Kaveney, North America general manager of GE’s Power Generation Services business. “While better positioning power providers to achieve their business goals, solutions like the AGP also contribute to more cost-effective, reliable and cleaner power for communities like New York City.