OREANDA-NEWS. GE (NYSE: GE) has signed contracts with Halmore Power Generation Company Limited and Orient Power Company Ltd to provide its Predix-enabled Digital Power Plant solutions. This complements the Government’s Vision 2025 to double power generation to over 45,000 megawatts (MW) and increase electricity access from 67 to over 90 percent of the population.

GE estimates there is $1.3 trillion in value creation between now and 2025 for companies that are going digital and $90 billion is expected to be invested in the energy industry’s digitization by 2020. Pakistan plays a key role in these investments. GE’s Digital Power Plant solutions for Pakistan integrate hardware, software applications with operations optimization and predictive analytics capabilities to deliver such benefits as improving thermal efficiency and enhancing plant operations.

The deployment of GE Power’s Digital Power Plant solutions will enhance the thermal efficiency of Halmore’s power plant in Bhikki, and Orient’s plant in Balloki, Punjab, by using GE’s Industrial Internet to integrate advanced data analytics with heavy machinery. The implementation of GE’s solutions will commence at Balloki later this year.

Zaheer Ahmed, Managing Director of Halmore Power Generation Company Limited, said: “We have a long-term partnership with GE, which brings advanced digital industrial solutions that enable us to achieve unprecedented levels of productivity. The new software solution is another innovative step that we are implementing at the Bhikki Power Plant to support the nation in securing reliable power supply to meet the growing need.”

Nadeem Babar, CEO of Orient Power Company, added: “We are looking at innovative technologies to strengthen the operational efficiency of the Balloki plant to meet the growing energy needs of the country. GE Power’s software solutions are ideally suited for the power plant as they bring strong predictive maintenance, which in turn will reduce the downtime of operations. The modifications in software and hardware components, using GE technology will lead to the most efficient utilization of our resources.”

“The digital industrial solutions by GE are a strong driver for transformational growth in the power sector,” said Dr. Azeez Mohammed, President & CEO of GE Power Services, MEA. “The new software solutions at Bhikki and Balloki will enable our customers to focus on predictive maintenance to avoid problems before they happen. This will drive unprecedented levels of efficiency and productivity by reducing downtime and helping to identify operational challenges in advance. We will continue to bring cutting edge technology to Pakistan to help the nation meet its surging demand for power.”

Sarim Sheikh, President & CEO, GE Pakistan, added: “One of the key pillars of the energy strategy of the country is to maximize the utilization of resources through the efficient operation of power plant assets. GE’s Predix-enabled software solutions will help improve asset management and predictive maintenance. Pakistan is one of the early adopters of GE’s Industrial Internet solutions, which will contribute positively to reducing the energy shortage in the country.”

Powered by Predix, the only cloud-based operating system built exclusively for industry, GE’s Digital Power Plant solutions use data analytics to provide power generators and utilities with insights about generation capacity and plant performance. The software also enables generators to respond quickly, efficiently and profitably to fluctuations in demand and supply by enhancing plant operations and business decision making, with potential increases in performance.

For example, GE’s Asset Performance Management (APM) is a Predix-based software application which draws data from all the component systems of a power plant in order to monitor, analyze, enhance and predict equipment health. APM’s anomaly detection capability helps predict outages before they happen, which enables just-in-time maintenance optimization and reduced plant downtime. In addition, GE’s Operations Optimization enables real-time operation decision-making based on analysis of plant capacity and customer demand, as well as the generating capacity and cost from all fuel sources available to the customer.

GE has three offices in the country – in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. GE-built technologies generate more than 25 percent of Pakistan’s electricity, while GE and its joint venture partners power more than 60 percent of the aircraft operated by Pakistani commercial carriers and GE Healthcare devices are installed in more than 70 percent of large hospitals across the country.