Power Generation

GE’s OpFlex reduces start-up times

With European utilities modernising their existing power plants to become more responsive to changing grid demands and boost competitiveness, power producers are turning to GE Power Generation Services to help reduce the startup times of their gas combined-cycle power plants. GE announced an OpFlex Controls Software project implementation during the Power-Gen Europe 2015 trade conference in Amsterdam.


GE’s OpFlex Steam Turbine Agility technology is a comprehensive solution, within its OpFlex Suite, which improves start times of legacy combined-cycle plants featuring GE gas and steam turbines. It includes a combination of controls upgrades with expert plant-level operational analysis and recommendations to deliver significant improvements in combined-cycle start performance.


Benefits of installing GE’s OpFlex Steam Turbine Agility software system include:


• Up to a 50 per cent reduction in steam turbine start times.


• Reduced startup fuel costs and emissions.


• More predictable and repeatable combined-cycle start times.


• Reduced potential for missed dispatch commitments.


OpFlex solutions are powered by an enterprise GE platform called the Predix platform. Representing an industrial cloud-based platform, this fully connected and secure cloud environment unifies the flow of data across all plant and fleet assets, delivering the enterprise visibility and insights needed to help optimise power plant, fleet and business operations.