GE boosts servicing of industry-leading HA gas turbines

The new AMRT Centre has significantly increased GE’s research and development capabilities

The centre is co-located in Global Repair Solutions Singapore Centre (GRSS), which was established in 2019, with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) to develop next-generation repair capabilities for GE HA gas turbines.

The first delivery of parts out of the centre is a significant milestone following GE’s 2019 announcement to invest up to $60 million over 10 years to make GRSS a world leader in power generation technology development, implementation and repairs.

This commitment is designed to strengthen repair capabilities globally – with a specific focus in Asia – where GE has over 90 per cent in-region self-sufficiency for the repair of heavy-duty gas turbines and a growing installed base.

“Congratulations to GE on the successful delivery of the AMRT’s first repaired HA component leveraging advanced manufacturing technologies. Tapping into the skilled talent base and robust infrastructure in Singapore, the AMRT Centre plays an important role in advancing GE Gas Power’s repair programmes,” said Tan Kong Hwee, executive vice president for the Singapore Economic Development Board. “This centre will contribute to our Manufacturing 2030 ambition to be a global business, innovation, and talent hub for advanced manufacturing and a future for more sustainable gas turbine technology.”

This investment allowed the shop to grow from 250 to 350 employees in two years, adding positions for both HA and Aeroderivative Repair Business, with the goal to add further jobs to handle more complex repairs on HA turbines – including repair on high-tech components, such as HA nozzles and blades.

Four new lean lines to repair the HA Hot Gas Path (HGP) components were also added to support the global 9HA component repairs demand. By the fall of 2022, GRSS will also be qualified to support the 7HA HGP components repair within the Asia region.

In the expanded site, the new AMRT Centre has significantly increased GE’s research and development capabilities by focusing on advanced manufacturing applications, adaptive machining, joining capabilities, and inspection technologies. The AMRT Centre is also in the process of establishing hydrogen fluoride ion cleaning capabilities which is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

“We’re proud GRSS successfully began repairing HA components this year. As Asia’s population and power demand continues to grow, we realised GE needed to expand our service centre as well to better support our global HA repair capabilities with a specific focus on the region.” said Jim Vono, president, Services, Asia-Pacific and South Asia, GE Gas Power. “The expanded facility is now one of GE's largest gas turbine repair facilities globally with special capability for our HA, in addition to other advanced gas turbine technologies serviced in Singapore.”

With 60 per cent of the global population, 45 per cent of the world’s electricity consumption, and 20 per cent of the global installed base, not only is the Asia region the largest in the world, its gas turbine installed base is also growing rapidly.

Currently over one-third of the turbines are located, or are on order, in the region and Asia’s growth trajectory means the percentage of HA turbines in the region is also expected to grow.

GRSS, as well as other repair shops in Asia, is part of GE’s extensive network of local repair capabilities for heavy duty and aeroderivative gas turbines in the region to better serve customers and asset reliability as well as provide 24/7 support and quick turnaround.

In Vietnam, GE is also playing an important role in the global network of repair and manufacturing capabilities which include the Phu My repair workshop in Ba Ria-Vung Tau as well as the Dung Quat HRSG manufacturing plant in Quang Ngai.

To date, GE has more than 1,000 gas turbines installed in the Asia region. GE Gas Power also has 21 power plant construction sites, eight operations and maintenance sites, six repair shops, and five joint ventures in the region, to better support customers on the ground.

GE’s H-Class Combined Cycle power plant is engineered to support the path towards decarbonisation of gas power: it is the most responsive and flexible in the industry enabling grid operators to dispatch power quickly and a great complement to intermittent renewables sources. Currently, it has the capability to burn up to 50 per cent by volume of hydrogen when blended with natural gas, with a technology roadmap to achieve 100 per cent hydrogen in this platform in the next decade.