General Electric [GE] has made the world's fastest-growing fleet of gas turbines, officials of the US energy giant said.
The turbines have significantly lowered the operating costs and reduced emissions at power plants.
The GE's HA gas turbine has the capability to achieve more than 64 per cent combined cycle efficiency.
Each 0.1 point of efficiency can represent more than $13 million in reduced fuel costs over a plant's life.
The turbine has set two world records for efficiency across 50- and 60-hertz segments since its innovation in 2016, Deepesh Nanda, GE's CEO (Gas Power Systems-South Asia) told the FE during a recent visit of this correspondent to the USA.
The HA turbine has so far achieved more than 118,000 operating hours with 76 units already ordered by more than 25 customers in around 15 countries.
"Today, GE technologies like H-class offer one of the most cost-effective conversions of fuel to electricity as well as industry-leading operational flexibility."
"GE has partnered with Summit Power International to offer its first HA gas turbine in South Asia for Summit's upcoming 590 megawatt combined-cycle dual-fuel power plant at Meghnaghat in Bangladesh," Mr Nanda said.
The GE has an installed base of more than 35 turbines, generating about 2,200MW of electricity in Bangladesh.
Efficiency aside, the GE engineers have also re-imagined the HA gas turbine package.
The modular design includes pre-assembled packages that can be shipped and fit together perfectly, reducing the installation time and costs.
It also provides simpler and faster serviceability in the long term, the GE CEO mentioned.
The GE has spent more than $2.0 billion to push innovative R&D (research and development) initiatives on the turbines, he added.
The turbine being used for combined-cycle efficiency at Chubu Electric's Nishi-Nagoya plant in Japan set a second Guinness record.
The turbine achieved 63.08 per cent gross efficiency in the Japanese plant powered by GE's 7HA.01 gas turbine.
Separately, GE Power is also investing in its existing gas turbine fleet, said Scott Strazik, GE president and CEO (Power Services Business).
Among its key recent accomplishments, GE Power and Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG, a subsidiary of Swedish utility Vattenfall AB, announced the new MXL2 with additive manufactured performance (AMP).
This is the world's first upgrade solution for GE's GT13E2 turbines that use key components manufactured with additive technology, said Mr Starazik.
"We're continuing to invest in new technologies to keep our installed base competitive," he told the FE.
These components are made with a lightweight configuration and can be engineered to include advanced cooling channels to run a turbine more efficiently.
This represents a new frontier in turbine engineering and production, Mr Starazik added.
The new MXL2 with AMP can help gas plants save up to $2.0 million in fuel annually.
They also open up the potential for additional revenue of $3.0 million annually in new power capacity.
Mr Starazik said this underpins the GE's commitment to keeping its mature fleets competitive in today's dynamic marketplace.
The GE's M&D (monitoring and diagnostics) Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, has engineers to monitor more than 50,000 operating hours of data.
The data are collected from more than 2,500 power generation assets globally.
They analyse more than 60,000 operational alarms a year, assisting GE customers in enhancing their asset reliability and performance round the clock.
The GE also provides additional support on a regional basis, which include local language support in more than 100 languages.
