GE opens aeroderivative turbine center in Perth, Australia

GE opened the Perth Aeroderivative Services Level 2 facility and Tooling Store in Australia to provide enhanced support to its GE LM6000, LM2500 and LMS100 aeroderivative gas turbine fleet installed. The facility will enable faster and more flexible execution of planned and unplanned maintenance, most of which would take place within the country, with a consequent reduction of the repair cycle time and logistics costs for Australian aeroderivative power plant operators. In addition, the facility includes a Tooling Store, operated by FieldCore, the field services company owned by GE which will serve the entire GE fleet within the Asia Pacific region to help ensure faster availability of tools for aero hot gas path section repairs and engine exchange tooling kits to accelerate completion time for outages.

According to the Australian Energy Update 2019 report, natural gas accounted for 25 percent of energy consumption in 2017–18. Gas consumption rose by 4 percent in 2017–18, with increased use in mining in Western Australia. Australia is expected to reach 50 per cent renewable energy generation by 2030 and is on track to exceed 75% renewables by 2040  according to Reputex Energy. Gas-fired generators complement variable renewable resources because the technology can change power levels quickly, turn down to low levels when demand is less, and start up very rapidly. All of these attributes enable gas turbines to work in concert with renewables to maintain reliability in the Australian power system.