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Industry Overview
POWER GENERATION & ELECTRICAL BALANCE OF PLANT
As global electricity demand increases, there is a growing need
to connect new power generation to the grid
To meet increasing global demand, utilities must connect 2,000+GW of new power to the grid by 2025. That is more than twice the entire European continent’s
current installed based capacity. Across the globe, new generation is being added to support a number of regional mandates. The world is facing a change from
coal to cheaper gas-fired thermal plants, an increase in renewable generation to support green standards, and growth in distributed power to support urgent or
under developed grid infrastructure. Electrical balance of plant (EBoP) solutions are needed to get power from the source of generation out into the grid. GE Energy
Connections can help ensure that the EBoP requirements are designed and integrated with the power island to drive optimized cost, ongoing plant efficiency and
increased reliability.
ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION GROWTH
FACTS & FIGURES
70% 1.2 BILLION 22%
GLOBAL ELECTRICITY DEMAND
IS EXPECTED TO INCREASE 70%
BY 2040
1.2 BILLION PEOPLE ARE WITHOUT
ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY
RENEWABLES WILL REPRESENT
22% OF GLOBAL POWER
GENERATION CAPACITY
(EXCLUDING HYDRO) BY 2025
2000
2010
2025
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Developments in Power Generation
SOLUTIONS FOR POWER COLLECTION AND GRID CONNECTION
Thermal
Electric power has become a fundamental necessity for the growth and well-being of all countries. Utilities, independent power producers (IPPs), industrials and
commercial customers around the world develop, own, and operate power plants to generate the electricity to meet this demand. The requirements for how
thermal plants operate today are far different than in the past. Cycling plants, fast-start requirements and coordination with renewables drives an expectation
that these plants are flexible, efficient and reliable across the load range. Customers seek the most cost-effective and reliable power plant offerings to serve
the power demands of their local grid or service territory. Plant studies are critical in order to optimize cost for plant performance and the interconnection
requirements of the grid.
Distributed Power
Distributed power technologies are more widely and quickly available, smaller, more efficient, and less costly today than they were just a decade ago. By 2024,
distributed power will play an even greater role and global distributed power generation capacity is expected to reach 336 GW, growing six times faster than
the total generation capacity in the same time frame.
Renewables
When it comes to how the world generates power, a lot has changed in the last 15 years. In 2000, renewable energy contributed less than 2% of global electricity
production (excluding Hydro). By 2025, renewables (excluding hydro) will account for 22% of global generation installed base capacity. As installed capacity of
renewables grows, EBoP is and will become an even more critical capability required to efficiently connect power to the grid.
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY POWER SYSTEMS WILL BE A HYBRID OF CENTRAL AND
DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
1880-1910
PHASE 1
LEGACY DISTRIBUTED POWER
Small distributed power plants provided electricity
to local customers through DC power lines.
1910-2000
PHASE 2
CENTRAL STATION POWER
Economies of scale drove increasingly large
power plants, eventually exceeding 1GW.
2000+
PHASE 3
INTEGRATED ENERGY SYSTEMS ERA
The rise of distributed power is transforming
power networks around the globe into
integrated energy systems.