Emergency and temporary power generation

"It’s the team that makes this job special. Everybody in this group does whatever they can to help each other out. Mechanical experts will pitch in and help the controls folks and vice versa. We all care for each other like a family."

More than a decade ago, Algeria was facing severe electricity shortages during the summer, when temperatures can reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. The government needed to find a quick solution for cooling homes and businesses without waiting years to build large-scale power plants. To help address the issue, Algerian officials called on GE Vernova to install dozens of high-capacity gas turbines in northern Algeria and truck-mounted TM2500s in the rest of the country.

Each TM2500 can deliver up to 36 megawatts (MW) of power and can operate efficiently at partial load. The turbines are also helping Algeria work toward its net-zero targets by balancing the power grid as solar plants are installed throughout the country.

After wildfires and drought conditions, California remains alert and prepared for energy emergencies. Anticipating a supply shortage if hydropower runs dry, the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) acted as procurement agent, commissioning four 30-MW GE Vernova TM2500 aeroderivative gas turbines.

Governor Newsom declared safeguarding the grid as imperative, but so was keeping it deeply green, as California sees massive success in meeting its own incredibly strict emissions rules. Honoring this with ingenuity, GE Vernova built in selective catalytic reduction scrubbers (SCRs) to the turbines for a markedly low NOx emission rating.

With rapid economic growth and an expanding population, Egypt is a country in transition. Its desert climate necessitates a massive amount of power generation, and while GE Vernova’s products currently generate nearly 30% of the country’s total installed capacity, its electricity demand is expected to grow at 4.1% per year. GE Vernova and the Egyptian government took vital steps toward accommodating the sharp increase in the country’s electricity demand. 

GE Vernova provided 20 TM2500 generator sets—totaling 500 MW of total power—and promised to install and commission all units within six months to help meet the country’s hot summer months’ demand. By working quickly to get the TM2500 generator set up and running by the middle of that year, Egypt was predicted to avoid $4.1 billion in losses over the course of the scorching summer season.

The 9.1 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan’s Tohoku region in March 2011 was the world’s costliest natural disaster to-date. It initiated a tsunami with waves that reached 40.5 meters and traveled up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) inland. The disaster compromised power generation and distribution, including operations at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Within 30 days of the disaster, GE Vernova had deployed 10 flexible-use TM2500 aeroderivative units, which together could produce 250 MW for the region.

In the wake of the 2017 earthquake that struck Mexico’s Oaxaca region, Pemex needed urgent power to restore operations at the Ing. Antonio Dovalí Jaime Refinery, one of the country’s largest petrochemical facilities. The facility benefitted from nearly 70 MW of urgent power generation provided by two TM2500 units as the remaining permanent power grid was being restored during the months following the earthquake.

"It is very important [for Pemex to] have a turnkey solution that will help us reactivate our facilities after an incident as serious as the one experienced in Mexico."