MAHENG/2012/47805

Vol 3 Issue 8 Pages 60 June 1, 2015 `100/- www.eprmagazine.com

THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS ON ELECTRICAL & POWER

Transformers market in India:

opportunities and threats

An in-depth analysis on how the transformer market is going
to grasp the opportunities and overcome challenges

EPR PERSONALITY
Gaetan Tiberghien,
International Finance Corporation
One-on-one
Deepesh Nanda, GE South Asia
Feature
Coal-linkage to captive power plants:
the inside story
Industry Analysis
Cogeneration is the way to go

An I-Tech Media Publication

One-on-one

GE H-class gas turbine: a transformation

in the industry
We have an installed base of 250 gas turbines in India,
which makes us the largest gas turbine OEM, says
Deepesh Nanda, GE Region General Manager, PGP and
PGS, GE South Asia

ory

GE Power & Water is one of the global leaders

in power generation and water technologies
for utilities, independent power producers
and industrial applications. It is a name to be
reckoned with in the development, service and
support of advanced heavy-duty gas turbines. In
an exclusive interview with EPR, Deepesh Nanda
talks about the GE power generation business in
India, how GE gas turbine is transforming the
power industry and the Industrial Internet
the next big step from GE.
The government is targeting to generate 15
per cent of its energy from renewable sources
by 2020. How is the growth of renewable
going to affect the overall power sector?
GE has always been a supporter of government
policies in terms of renewable energy. We have
a large business which is into renewable energy.
We have a plant in Pune that manufactures
wind turbines. We are also the largest player
globally in this segment. We look at the
governments moves and policies on renewable
energy as a positive sign for GE.
China is aggressively promoting gas turbine
plants in a bid to reduce dependence on
coal plants and promote fuel diversification.
Where does India stand?
India has an installed base of close to 240-250
GW. In this mix, about 10 per cent is gas-based
power and about 60 per cent is coal-based
power. In the 10 per cent gas-based power, we
have around 24 GW of installed capacity. The
sector has faced issues in the past 3-4 years
because of the non-availability of affordable

gas. Among the 24 GW, around 14-15 GW is

at operation at part loads, while the balance is
completely stranded.
Recently, the government has taken several
steps, especially the notification which was
issued in March. The government will come
up with a bidding process for the gas plants
to get operational. The technical round got
over on 7th May, while the commercial
bidding is underway. The government is
looking at this sector and has come up with
policies to restart the capacity which has
been stagnant. By the end of the bidding
process, we will at least have some part of
the 24 GW in operation.
What makes the gas turbines the technology
of choice for future capacity additions?
Some things clearly stand out in the gasbased power generation. To begin with, it is
clean. The amount of emissions a gas-based
power station would emit is lesser than a coalbased power plant. It is also quicker to set up.
Whenever you have a large grid, you will need
gas-based power that can ramp up quickly,
depending upon the load cycle. So the complete
load management with the gas-based power
capacity is much more efficient, especially
when you inject a lot of renewable load in the
grid. The gas-based power generation helps
balance the load management.
On the broader side, while India is seeing
possibility of gas, the rest of the globe is
experiencing golden age of gas. In the US,
Continued to 36

34

June 2015

Electrical & Power Review

One-on-one
Deepesh Nanda interview
Continued from 34 f

9HA Heavy-Duty Gas Turbine

we have the entire shale gas revolution.

Middle East or Qatar has been a very
big supplier over there. We have gas
available in Australia and Russia too, but
when it comes to India, Japan and Korea,
we can see non-availability of affordable
gas. Also, the prices tend to be higher
than the other parts of the world. In the
future, the technology to refrigerate,
transport and gasification will improve
and the cost will come down, which
will make gas-based power plants more
affordable.
Due to the development across the
globe, in terms of gas-based power
technology, GE has been investing a
lot in innovative products and coming
out with technologies to improve the
efficiency of the gas turbines.
GE is the largest supplier of heavyduty gas turbine. How is GE H-class
gas turbine transforming the industry?
GE has the ability to invest in new
technology to improve the efficiency
of the gas turbines. This results in
products that deliver the lowest cost of
electricity. This is a clear advantage that
the class 9 HA turbine offers. The other is
operational flexibility, which is enjoyed
by the customers using 9 HA turbine
By operational flexibility, I mean if you
have to start the gas turbine, you have a
10-minute ramp up from start command
to gas turbine full load. This process
happens in 10 minutes flat. Up to 70 MW
per minute of ramp capability within the
compliant limits of emission is what this
turbine achieves. Then the turbine is also
less complex, i.e. it does not require a

36

June 2015

separate air-cooling system. In addition,

the turbine is modular. .
While the world is aware about fullspeed, no-load test facility, GE being
the technology leader went ahead and
took a decision to invest $2 billion in
our 9HA technology where we came up
with full-speed, full-load test facility. At
our test facility, the gas turbines have
been tested for about 200 hours. This is
equivalent to running 500 units on the
field. The test facility gives us the ability
to understand the dynamics of the gas
turbine much more than we would have
got if the gas turbine had been installed
on the field. So the customers get a
reliable turbine. These are some of the
advantages of 9HA.01 and 9HA.02 over
other gas turbines.
If you look from the co-generation
point of view, you have a 6F.01 gas
turbine. What makes 6F.01 gas
turbines unique?
The 6F.01 is of the range of 50 MW, so
if we take a typical 2:1 combined cycle
arrangement, it gives us an output of
close to 100 MW. In the 6F category,
efficiency of the turbine is greater than
55 per cent on combined cycle. We
have a very large base of installed gas
turbines in India. We have a joint venture
with BHEL on the services of some gas
turbines. We also have technology
collaboration with BHEL, for BHEL to
manufacture these gas turbines.
We have an installed base of 250 gas
turbines in India, which makes us the
largest gas turbine OEM. The 6F.01 will
find play in small IPP and industrial

units. In terms of efficiencies, there is

a vast change for the better. As it is a
new technology, we have also come
up with combustion system through
which it delivers PPM levels within
the norms. The life of the parts of the
gas turbine is of the nature where you
have extended parts which are available
today. Thanks to the technology that
we have developed over the time. We
have put together all the knowledge
and manufactured the 6F.01 gas turbine
in India. It is a very good product for
small IPP and industrial customers
who have got captive plants, especially
for continuous operating plants like
refineries, petrochemical and where you
have a cogeneration requirement of coal
power and steam.
GE is a big player in the power business.
What are the other innovations we
can expect from GE in steam- or gasturbine segment?
GEs investment in software solutions
is an important element of innovation.
GE has done a major investment in
our software centre in San Ramon,
California, where we would gather data
for our equipment like gas turbines,
steam turbines, aviation engines and
wind turbines.
For data and analytics, we have the ability
to manufacture decision making tools for
our customers enabling them to monitor
the plant operations and working of the
turbine on a real time basis on a flat
plain of glass. In such a set-up, we can
monitor the working of the entire plant
as well. The processes are mapped on a
continuous basis through a censor, and
the data is sent back to our servers.
We have high-end platforms to analyse
the data coming in. After being analysed,
the data is sent back to the customers
who then can use the decision making
tools in order to assess exactly what
is happening in the power plant, and
decide on the future course of action.
This is an element of innovation, and
GE has taken the first big step here. We
have coined it as Industrial Internet,
and this is going to be the future.
Electrical & Power Review