Tuning Gas Turbines by Satellite

 

In the first-ever project of its type, GE Oil & Gas is using satellite connections to customer sites for the remote tuning and testing of gas turbine combustion systems at 11 pipeline stations owned by Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Limited (RGTIL) of Mumbai, India. The unique approach is enabling the project to be implemented with significantly more speed, while also maintaining reliability, efficiency and quality. To meet the stringent requirements of this project, GE Oil & Gas implemented an innovative remote tuning and commissioning strategy.

The project relies on bridge-encrypted Internet connections between servers at the GE Oil & Gas Florence, Italy, headquarters and manually operated computer terminals located at the remote compression stations located along the pipeline. Remote tuning is being performed on 32 GE 10 and PGT25 gas turbines.

The project is scheduled for completion at the end of November 2009. After this date, future remote tuning activity will be extended under a long-term contractual service agreement.

“RGTIL is committed to meeting aggressive gas transportation pipeline commissioning targets — so the efficient, reliable and rapid start-up of new gas turbines was critical,” said Jeff Nagel, Vice President Global Services, GE Oil & Gas. “Adding to the challenge was the fact that many of the pipeline stations are in remote locations. This project provides a model that we will replicate in future DLN tuning efforts for other customers.”