GE to upgrade existing gas turbines in Myanmar

General Electric and Myanma Electric Power Enterprise (MEPE) have agreed to work together to repower and upgrade existing gas turbines in Myanmar, according to GE. Following a proposal made during GE Chairman and CEO, Jeffrey Immelt’s recent visit to Myanmar, this new initiative will result in approximately 30 MW of additional power for Myanmar, said the press release issued by GE recently.

This upgrade is required to help the country continue on its rapid development path, and this upgraded equipment will result in a large increase in overall efficiency, delivering more power with the same amount of fuel, said GE. The company is expected to work towards finalizing agreements to repower and upgrade the existing fleet of GE gas turbines in the country over about six months. Under the proposed agreement, GE would invest to facilitate this project together with MEPE.

Myanmar is short of electrical power, particularly if it wishes to extend outreach to the 70 percent of the public who are not on the country’s power grid. And for GE, dealing with stifling bureaucracy and entrenched local capitalists has been testing.

Following the completion of the Myanmar Master Electricity Planning Study and training which GE initiated and has supported since last year, GE and MEPE have jointly agreed to conduct an assessment of power plants to identify possible upgrade opportunities with a view to increasing the power output, availability, reliability and heat rate.

The repowering solutions will greatly enhance the power output of these gas turbines and deliver a significant reduction in the gas fuel consumption resulting in greater benefits for MEPE. Installing the latest technology to upgrade existing units will greatly enhance their efficiency, and significantly reduce costs for operators, according to GE.