GE signs 25-year service contracts for Mexican plant

Aligning with Mexico’s Ministry of Energy’s National Electric System Development Program (PRODESEN) 2017-2030 plan, GE Power has signed long-term agreements with a consortium formed by Macquarie Capital and Techint valued at approximately over $330 million. The Multi-Year Agreements (MYA), include two fully integrated contracts, including an Operation and Maintenance (O&M) agreement and a Contractual Service Agreement (CSA), these together will provide 25 years of total plant services solutions for the 907 megawatts (MW) Norte III power plant, located in the municipality of Ciudad Juárez, in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico.

At the start of 2015, Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) commissioned the development of a combined-cycle power plant just south of Ciudad Juarez in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, to help meet the growing need for electricity in the region. The Chihuahua region is identified in the PRODESEN 2017-2030—the 15-year infrastructure development program for Mexico’s national electric system–as a “deficient node,” given its expected growth in the next decade.

During its peak construction period, Norte III will employ approximately 2,000 workers and is expected to provide electricity to more than 500,000 houses in Mexico once completed. During commercial operation Norte III will provide for highly specialized on-going jobs including power plant staffing and additional maintenance staff during outages for 25 years.

Under the terms of the 25-year agreement, GE will utilize its Fleet360 platform for the Norte III plant which operates on four of GE’s 7F.04 gas turbines as well as two Toshiba steam turbines. The platform also provides a full spectrum of digital solutions and plant improvement services, regardless of which original equipment manufacturers (OEM) generation equipment they have installed.

As part of the solution, GE’s Predix-based Asset Performance Management and Operations Optimization software will be deployed to apply  advanced data analytics to predict and eliminate unplanned downtime, and improve power plant productivity.  GE’s software which is built on Predix, and was purpose-built to meet the scale, complexity, speed and security requirements of the industry, will provide direct support to the GE O&M team in achieving the guaranteed capacity outcome.

GE began its operations in Mexico in 1896. Mexico has the third largest 7F and 7H install base in the world. GE’s 16,000-square-meter Morelia Service Center, located in Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico, provides maintenance, testing and repair solutions for the Latin American region and will help ensure Macquarie gets the best and quickest possible repairs.