GE’s Alstom Power Acquisition: the evolution of the services business model in the first year’s journey

By Paul McElhinney, President and CEO of GE’s Power Services

Bringing the Alstom and GE teams together equipped the business with the intellectual property, human intellect and afull plant services portfolio to support complete plant environments.  The acquisition immediately expandedGE’s cross-fleet capabilities to service power generation equipment supplied by other manufacturers, resulting in millions of dollars in new contracts around the world within just the first 12 months.

A model of the Digital Power Plant

A year after the acquisition, GE’s Power Services business islaunching its new Fleet 360™ platform that showcasesthe company’s“total plant solutions” portfolio, a special milestone on the journey to becoming a technology agnostic, “one-stop” services provider for utility and industrial power plant operators worldwide.

Fleet 360 applies to services, upgrades, repairs, parts, multiyear agreements, operations and maintenance as well as advanced digital solutions for equipment supplied by both GE and other equipment suppliers. With thenew Cross-Fleet Solutions, GE’s Power Services nowservices more than 90 brands of gas and steam turbines, generators, boilers and other balance of plant equipment.

These capabilities immediately began paying off by enabling GE’s Power Services to compete for and win a broader range of new orders for a more diverse range of solutions around the world.

Among the most compelling examples of the business’s expanded cross-fleet expertise is the win this past fall with Vattenfall Europe Wärme AG, a subsidiary of Swedish utility Vattenfall AB, who selected GE’s Power Services to overhaul and extend the operating life of two, 130-megawatt Siemens steam turbines at the utility’s hard coal-fired DHP Wedel Power Plant in Hamburg, Germany Siemens’ home country.

Or in the Czech Republic, where the business completed a series of advanced boiler modernization projects at ČEZ Group’s ElektrárnaPočerady and Mělník I coal-fired plants to reduce the plants’ nitrogen oxide emissions by 60 percent to supply power and heat in compliance with European Union emissions standards. GE’s Power Services modernized four, 200-megawatt pulverized coal boilers originally supplied by Czech engineering group Vitkovice at the Počerady power plant, as well as six Vitkovice-supplied pulverized coal boilers at the Mělník I plant.

GE and Alstom first year together also saw the first integration of combined steam turbine technologies. Earlier this year, the business introduced the new Enhanced Steam Path (ESP) upgrade solution for D-10 and D-11 steam turbines operating in Europe and other 50-hertz markets, following the ESP’s introduction in 60hz countries in December 2015. The ESP upgrade helps utilities and industrial operators boost the efficiency and output of their existing combined-cycle power plants, allowing them to respond more quickly to changing grid demands.

GE Power Services also achieved an exciting advanced manufacturing milestone. The business combined its commitment to “additive manufacturing” technology to install the world’s largest 3-D printed parts inGT13E2 gas turbines at Vattenfall’sHeizkraftwerk Berlin-Mittepower plant in Germany. The 3-D printed Combustor Zone 1 Segment - manufactured at GE’s plant in Birr, Switzerland - weighs only 4.5 Kg and is the size of a laptop!

Additive manufacturing uses material only exactly where needed. Lower weight means less material, lower costs and faster build time. Imagine the changes, if turbine parts are not casted, if they are not stored or transported, if spares were produced exactly when and where they are needed - always with the latest features. Additive manufacturing revolutionizes the service business model across the industry forever.

Across power-intensive industries, utilities and other power producers are seeking service providers that can help them deliver more reliable and sustainable power.GE’s Power Services is now able to deliver a true Fleet360 portfolio that,by leveraging the cross-fleet solutions, additive manufacturing and digital industrial technologies,can redefine the waythat theindustry thinks, acts and operates. With Fleet360, the business seesthe evolution of its services business model. GE’s Power Services has created an entirely new way of delivering value and sharing the benefits of outcomes  with its customers.

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