Siemens signs first long-term services agreement for H-class gas turbine in UAE

Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) and Siemens have announced the first power services agreement for an H-class gas turbine in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With the new 20-year service agreement, Siemens will provide maintenance and repairs as well as onsite personnel support for the gas turbine and its generator at the planned over 600-megawatt (MW) combined cycle project feeding EGA's Jebel Ali power plant in Dubai.

The power block will see the first use of Siemens H-class technology by the aluminum smelting industry.

As part of the agreement, Siemens will offer its Power Diagnostic Services, part of the company's Omnivise digital services portfolio, designed to remotely monitor and detect abnormal operating conditions of equipment. It helps power plant operators react quickly and proactively to avoid unscheduled downtime and production losses. Siemens monitoring experts can remotely solve more than 85 percent of all alarms without a service team doing troubleshooting onsite. Reduced downtime and fewer turbine visits result in a higher availability and reliability of the energy assets.

The new power block is being developed by a joint venture of Mubadala and Dubai Holding. EGA intends to buy the facility's output for 25 years following commissioning. The shareholders of the joint venture signed an agreement in November with Siemens to install the UAE's first combined cycle H-class gas turbine at the new power block.

The new power block is set to boost the efficiency of power production at EGA's Jebel Ali smelter, lowering emissions and reducing the consumption of natural gas. The H-class power plant is expected to lower greenhouse gas emissions from EGA's power generation at Jebel Ali by some 10 percent. NOx emissions are expected to be reduced by 58 percent.

The aluminum market is projected to grow significantly due to increasing demand from major industries, witnessing an annual growth rate of 6.48 percent until the end of 2023, according to Aluminum Market Research Report. EGA produces around four percent of the world's total production and is the largest industrial company in the UAE outside the oil and gas sector.