OREANDA-NEWS. GE (NYSE: GE) and Akenerji signed a multi-year agreement to deploy GE’s Predix based Operations Optimization (OO) solutions at its Egemer Elektrik Uretim A.S. natural gas combined cycle power plant in Erzin Hatay, Turkey, with an operating capacity of 904 MW.

As one of the early adopters of the Operations Optimization software in Turkey, this software will help power generators tackle operational issues to drive more profitable use of plant resources for market conditions. Installation of these digital solutions is scheduled to begin in late 2017.

“Nowadays, to compete more effectively in Turkey’s complex market environment, innovative solutions are needed for operators like us,” said Serhan Gencer, CEO, Akenerji. “GE’s advanced digital solutions will provide us, at every level of operation, increased visibility and insights to our KPI focused analytics to help improve overall plant efficiency and performance, while simultaneously meeting our compliance, regulatory and emission goals.”

“Customers using these advanced digital solutions within their plants are seeing real economic value,” said Ganesh Bell, chief digital officer at GE Power. “These improvements could yield up to a 3% MW increase in output, a 3% fuel efficiency improvement, and up to $2MM per year in outage reduction.”

Today’s announcement builds upon the long-term relationship between GE and Akenerji. In 2012, both parties signed a multi-year agreement to provide two GE 9FB gas turbines and three GE’s generators for the newly built Egemer Power Plant to help ensure the long-term, reliable operation of the equipment. In 2016, this relationship was expanded with a pilot project to develop digital solutions to help enhance the power plant.

These services, combined with digital solutions, provide Akenerji’s plant operators with GE‘s Fleet360 platform of customized plant solutions to help improve performance and extend maintenance intervals.

The OO software applications slated for implementation at Akenerji’s power plant can provide numerous operational benefits such as improved reliability and availability via enhanced predictivity, accurate performance monitoring and forecasting capability, dispatch optimization via better visibility into plant capability, and lower production costs and asset generation forecasting capability for improved asset dispatch.

GE's Industrial Internet platform Predix supports digital transformation with its solutions in energy as with many others. Predix has already established an ecosystem for digitalization with more than 26,000 developers onboard. This ecosystem is expanding continuously with customers' demands and GE's collaborations.

Established in 1989, Akenerji is a privately-owned energy company in Turkey with 1224 MW of natural gas, hydro and wind generating assets. Its renewable portfolio, alone, enables Akenerji to avoid over 1 million tons of CO2 emissions annually. The Egemer gas plant is designed to be an eco-friendly and contemporary power plant that single-handedly produces 2,7% of energy generated in Turkey.