GE digitalization boosts operations at Pakistani wind farms

2022-8-11 GE Grid Solutions

GE Renewable Energy’s Onshore Wind team and GE’s Grid Solutions Services team have joined forces to digitize the maintenance of the balance of plant (BoP) systems at eight onshore wind farms in Pakistan’s Jhimpir region.

The shift from time-based maintenance to condition-based maintenance uses GE’s Asset Performance Management (APM) grid solution to drive OPEX and CAPEX optimization and enhance the wind farms’ reliability and availability.

For sharper decision-making, inspection data was collected over the last year from all eight wind farms operating at 132 kV. Approximately 1,500 electrical assets—including transformers, HV/MV switchgears, protection relays, and battery chargers—were consolidated into the APM platform. APM methodologies employ data from intrusive and non-intrusive inspection techniques to assess the health of grid assets, detect abnormalities, and propose the most effective maintenance or replacement strategies and remedial actions.

The GE EnergyAPM solution is delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS), hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud, which is managed by GE. The multi-tenancy capability offered by the APM solution allows every site and team to view and manage its own assets separately, while giving GE Renewable’s Onshore Wind team a central view of all the sites under management.