Azito Energie SA has signed an agreement with GE to deploy its predix asset performance management (APM) software for two GT13E2 gas turbines and two generators at the Azito III plant site, located in the Yopougon district of Ivory Coast
Adding to it, the companies announced the successful execution of GE’s MXL2 upgrade solution for the first GT13E2 gas turbine, which is set to grow the plant’s production by 15MW, which is equivalent power for up to 120,000 homes.
The upgrade on the second unit is set to be enforced later in the year. A first-of-its-kind project in sub-Saharan Africa, this flagship upgrade combined with the digital solutions, is on its the way for additional total plant solutions across the region.
Luc Aye, general manager, Azito Energie SA, said, “With plant output already increasing by up to 30MW with our selection of GE’s MXL2 technology, we are keen on leveraging digital technology and knowledge management to further improve on our plant overall performance. Operational efficiency, reliability and availability of our assets have always been our key focus.”
GE has executed the MXL2 upgrade on the first unit, comprising turbine, compressor and combustor modules, without any loss time to injury and a workforce that was mostly 95 per cent local. Designed to be compatible with all installed GT13E2 units, the MXL2 upgrade combines GE’s latest technology developments and more than 10mn operating hours of GT13E2 fleet experience.
Under this contract, the APM software is expected to provide real-time united visibility into the health of assets critical to the customer. It further is set to forcast and accurately diagnoses issues with greater accuracy before they occur with the help of predictive analytics while generating the root cause analysis of events and providing a framework for the resolution of known issues.
“The power industry today is rapidly evolving with changing market conditions — fuel prices, workforce, energy demand and supply among many others, either internally or externally, that affect business operations,” said Narendra Asnani, commercial operations executive for GE’s power service business in sub-Saharan Africa.
“These dynamics make data analytics very important to the success of business operations. Yet, power operators find it difficult to analyze this data holistically across one or multiple plants and resort to traditional operations, which comprises of multiple systems, each designed to measure and monitor in silos,” Asnani added.
