OREANDA-NEWS. February 26, 2016. Showcasing GE’s (NYSE: GE) transformation into the world’s leading digital industrial company, GE Power today highlighted the latest steps it is taking to deploy its portfolio of digital solutions to help utility and industrial customers boost their productivity while reducing their environmental impacts and operating costs throughout the entire energy value chain.

“We are experiencing a 21st century digital transformation that promises to drive unprecedented industrial innovation," said Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Power at the 2016 CERA Week energy conference in Houston. “The world is expected to need 50 percent more power over the next 20 years, and GE is committed to offering our customers the digital solutions they need to be more competitive and achieve their efficiency, sustainability and environmental goals.”

GE’s Digital Power Plant will enable its utility and industrial customers to harness information technologies to improve the underlying infrastructure that generates electricity in a manner that will transform the way electricity is generated and managed worldwide, helping reduce the impact of power production and consumption to the climate. 

Digital Power Plant and Digital Wind Farm are two of the fastest growing parts of GE’s digital portfolio. Since launching in October 2015, GE has signed 15 Digital Power Plant customers deploying advanced controls, Predix platform, Asset Performance Management and Operations Optimization applications.  The expected benefits include up to \\$230 million in savings for a new combined-cycle gas power plant and up to \\$50 million in net present value (NPV) over 10 years for an existing combined-cycle, gas-powered plant. Across the power industry today, this will equate to up to \\$75 billion in savings. Similarly, Digital Wind Farm is delivering up to \\$100 million incremental value for a new farm. 

Built upon the Predix platform, GE’s software applications enable customers to get started in their digital transformation journey and define a pragmatic roadmap to adoption.

·         Asset Performance Management (APM) helps plants reduce downtime and production costs through predictive and physics-based analytics.

·         Operations Optimization (OO) helps drive better plant and fleet performance across equipment manufacturers, site configurations and thermal cycles.

·         Business Optimization (BO) can help deliver dynamically, not only the visibility, but the insights needed to identify any underlying degradation impact and resulting true plant capability.

·         Cybersecurity of operational technology infrastructure and assets.

·         Edge Computing & Advanced Controls offer controls and computing at the edge of nearby assets, increasing flexibility through applications and analytics.

In demonstrating the operational and economic viability of the Digital Power Plant to the global utility sector, GE has implemented a number of customer engagements. Early adopters of these Industrial Internet solutions include Exelon, RasGas, Bord Gais, Crestwood, PSEG, Sapphire, Engro and Saif.

“Across the utility and power-intensive industrial sectors, our customers are seeking partners and technology solutions to help them deliver better outcomes across the enterprise,” said Ganesh Bell, chief digital officer for GE Power’s Digital Solutions business. “Small changes in fuel, maintenance, uptime, productivity, flexibility, safety and labor effectiveness have incredible impacts on overall  profitability—and are vital to customers in staying competitive in today’s changing world.”

In another important step to deploy its digital solutions to the global industrial sector, during the 2016 Mobile World Congress that opened earlier this week in Barcelona, Spain, the company announced the launch of its GE Digital Alliance Program, the first ever dedicated to growing the digital industrial ecosystem. This Alliance Program comes just several months after GE formally introduced Exelon and PSEG as the first utility launch customers for its Digital Power Plant solution and signals the continuing evolution of GE’s digitally enabled technology solutions across the energy value chain.

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.

*Predix is a trademark of General Electric Company.