Overview

GE went above and beyond for the customer, investing heavily in its service center in Singapore to address their needs.

The challenge

The customer operates a total of 9 20+-year old gas turbines across three different power plants. All of their rotors were reaching end of life and needed serious servicing to keep operating and producing power for the country. Unfortunately, there is no provider in Asia who could perform the necessary rotor life extension (RLE) work—except for GE.

The solution

To solve the customer’s challenges, GE had to solve one of its own: The fact that its GRSS (GE Repair Solutions Singapore) service center needed to build up its capabilities to handle all 9 RLEs within the shop. After an investment of more than $4 million, GE was able to start work on the RLEs, accomplishing the first 9F RLE performed at the GRSS in the process.

Outcomes

15-20 years

rotor life extension

35% increase

in GRSS shop capabilities

The project started as a partnership two years before the RLE work began at the GRSS, with the customer and GE working together to determine what additional inspection tooling and machines the center needed, investing in and installing the new equipment, and training the machine vendors.

The major equipment ordered included:

  • Dedicated RLE inspection equipment
  • New Horizontal Rotor Balance Machine
  • New Vertical Turning Lathe

Rotor life extension for F rotors is a process GE has created over many years of experience with design analytics, shop inspections and operating data. Now, with the additional investment, the GRSS can perform RLEs on 7F and 9F RLEs—and the additional capacity has increased the center’s capability by at least 35%.  To date, 5 of the customer’s gas turbine rotors have been serviced and are back in operation, with another 15-20 years of operating life ahead. The remaining four rotors at the third facility are expected to be complete in 2024.

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