In September, GE said that it plans to stop coal-fired power plants and redirect its focus into renewables projects. In fact, the company had finished work for the 100MW Kipeto wind project in Kenya. The project was in collaboration with British private equity fund Actis and Craftskills Wind Energy International, a sister company of Craftskills East Africa.

The wind project is estimated to have a supply capacity for 40,000 Kenyan households. Kathy Hipple, a financial analyst at Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told the media, “GE’s exit from building new coal-fired power—after decades as a leader in this space—is an acknowledgement that growth in the energy sector will no longer be in coal. The market will ultimately reward GE for exiting new coal builds.”

The company’s decision to withdraw from coal-powered plants strengthens its energy portfolio in environment, social and governance, media reports said. Last year, it planned to construct two new energy distribution systems in Benin and further develop three substations in Ivory Coast. This move was part of its commitment to reinforce energy efficiency and access in West Africa.

As of last year, Benin was importing nearly 85 percent of its energy from overseas. GE’s involvement in enhancing the system was expected to identify and address grid problems.

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Schlumberger, GE, Halliburton, Honeywell, MCDermott International, Weatherford International and Nabors Industries are some of the US-based companies that signed agreements in the oil and gas sector. Eight MoUs were signed by Saudi Aramco to boost its operations, strengthen the supply chain in the region worth of US$24bn in the next five years and create 30,000 jobs.

The company has also signed 4 MoUs in petroleum, marine and logistics services. As part of the visit, several agreements were established by Saudi Arabia companies for other sectors including energy and technology sectors as well.

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Latour joined GE in 2004 and held a series of communication roles in GE Corporate before being appointed as CCO in April 2015. Later, she was promoted as Senior Advisor in October 2017.

Chairman and CEO of GE, John Flannery said, “Deirdre has been a valuable advisor to me as I began my tenure as CEO and, as I wish her success in the next phase of her career, I’m also grateful for her willingness to assist me through this important transition period and want to thank her for her service to GE.”

During her tenure at GE, Latour led the company’s communications at the time of unprecedented change in the company and in the global space. GE’s evolution into a digital industrial company was narrated by a strategic communications program created and executed by Latour and her team. In addition, Latour also led the communications for the CEO succession process and build a stronger global external relations capacity worldwide.

“Being a member of the GE team for the past 14 years has been an awesome experience for me that gave me the opportunity to work on fascinating projects with innovative teams all over the world,” Latour said, “The strength of GE is its people and I look forward to watching John and the team’s future successes.  I am excited to pursue new professional challenges and new adventures in life.”

GE CMO and CLO Linda Boff has taken over as interim head of communications while the company seeks to find a suitable candidate for Latour’s position.

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At GE, Gupta drastically improved the company’s operational and financial performance through strategic deployment of advanced technologies. He led the scaling of GE’s first robotics platform using UiPath robots—to automate core processes and yield significant improvements in productivity.

In addition, Gupta designed and implemented the Finance and Shared Services Group’s first big data platform with advanced analytical, machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities. The move largely reduced GE’s travel expenses. His expertise in operational and financial performance for businesses coupled with in-depth knowledge has bolstered seamless ERP implementation and automation.

UiPath CEO Daniel Dines, said, “Ashim has been a friend and advocate of UiPath for a long time.He shares our vision for how automation can drastically improve business performance, and the results he’s delivered for GE using RPA underscore the viability of that vision. We are extremely confident in his ability to draw on his experiences to provide best-in-class recommendations and service to our clients.”

At UiPath, Gupta will oversee a team of experts who will closely work with customers to maximise  adoption, self-sufficiency and business value of their RPA software investments—through proven deployment methodology and strategic change management.

Gupta said,  “RPA is a game-changer for business operations and cost productivity. I’ve experienced the value of this software firsthand, and the potential for enterprise automation is only going to increase as the technology advances and matures. UiPath is at the forefront of this monumental change and I could not be more excited to lead our customers through their digital transformation journeys.”

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When an electric rotating machine (ERM), such as the generator in the power-generation unit, fails, the consequence can be significant. Digital transformation is a necessary and inevitable step to improve operational efficiency and reduce risks of power outages.

Traditionally, vibration sensors are used to detect failures in rotating machines, but their ability is limited to detecting mechanical failures only, neglecting common electrical failures. Industry advancements in big data analytics and new software applications such as GE’s Predix-based APM solution, combined with new sensing techniques, have enabled new ways to more effectively monitor and fine-tune the performance of an ERM.

GE’s APM solution, powered by Predix, the application development platform for the Industrial Internet, connects, monitors and provides predictive analytics to the generator inside the plant. When deployed, it will collect data from electric sensors built into the generator asset.

The APM application analyzes streams of data with key intelligence about the health and performance of the generator asset while searching for signs of mechanical or electrical anomalies, which may lead to potential failure or inefficiency. These insights can, in turn, help operators to fine-tune parameters of the generator to improve its performance. More importantly, it will allow operators to solve potential problems before they occur, reducing costly unplanned downtime, mitigating risk and improving productivity. The data-driven operation method will also enable predictive maintenance, which means fixing machines before failures arise, without wasting time servicing them on a fixed schedule, and it will reduce excessive maintenance costs.

“The need for production efficiency has opened up new opportunities to use digital technologies to accelerate field automation and improve plant productivity. Enabling this shift to data-based intelligence to reap additional value should be the focused strategy for companies to sustain their competitiveness. We are pleased to work with Alco Bio Fuel to digitally transform their way of operations,” said Azeez Mohammed, President & CEO, GE’s Power Conversion business.

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GE Renewable Energy will provide 38 of its 2.75-120 wind turbine with 110m hub heights, a product ideally suited for the medium wind conditions of the Serbian great plains. A 15-year Full Service Agreement is also part of the agreement between GE Renewable Energy and Enlight Renewable Energy. Once fully commissioned in 2019, Blacksmith “Kovačica” will become Serbia’s third largest wind site.

Pete McCabe, President & CEO of GE’s Onshore Wind Business said “GE Renewable Energy is determined to help countries reach their renewable energy goals. The Blacksmith wind project represents one fifth of the country’s wind capacity targets for 2020 and we are very excited to be part of it.”

Gilad Yavetz, Enlight’s CEO said: “This is a significant milestone for Enlight, which reflects our core competencies in the setup of project of a national scale. The Serbia project will provide the entire power consumption for the equivalent of 65,000 households, in addition to creating jobs and boosting Serbia’s economic growth. We are proud of the vote of trust expressed by the support extended to us from GE and Europe’s leading banks. Enlight has extensive and successful experience in working with GE in projects across Europe. We are pleased to collaborate again with the segment leader in this important project too.”

Wind turbines for the site will be produced in Europe in GE’s Salzbergen, Germany wind facility with blades manufactured by LM Wind Power in Spain and Poland.

GE Renewable Energy recently announced it would also provide turbines for Čibuk 1, Serbia’s future largest wind farm, which is also located in the North East of the country. Together, Blacksmith “Kovačica” and Čibuk 1 will amount for 263MW of clean wind energy added to the Serbian grid, a significant step towards the country’s goal to hit 500MW of wind capacity by 2020.

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Signed by Deemah Alyahya, Acting CEO of the NDU and Hisham Al Bahkali, President & CEO, GE Saudi Arabia & Bahrain, on the sidelines of the MISK Global Forum in Riyadh, the agreement will see GE train Saudi youth on ideas and concepts relating to the ‘Future of Work,’ empowering them with the advanced skills needed in digital and software development.

Deemah Alyahya said: “Digital transformation is a key driver of Saudi Vision 2030, covering all sectors and leveraging the power of big data and advanced analytics to achieve increased efficiency and productivity. Tech-savvy Saudi youth play a defining role in achieving this vision. At the National Digitization Unit, we focus on promoting our national talent and helping build innovative digital business models that will establish Saudi Arabia as a pioneering digital nation.”

Through the MoU, NDU and GE will work towards supporting the diversification and digitization of emerging industries. This will be accomplished through collaborating with customers in critical industries such as healthcare, water and mining to conduct assessments, define areas for improvement, and identify digital solutions to move transformation forward. The partners will leverage GE’s digital applications such as Asset Performance Management (APM) which tracks and optimizes assets, and ServiceMax which allows field service engineers’ time to be utilized more efficiently. The partnership will focus on community- based digital solutions in sectors that have been identified for transformation under Saudi Vision 2030.

Concurrently, GE will host workshops shaped around the ‘Future of Work,’ GE’s framework for the skills of the future that focuses on advanced manufacturing, the Industrial Internet of Things, and open innovation. GE’s digital experts in the Industrial Internet of Things will share their knowledge to help boost industrial interconnectivity, and create strategic collaborations with Saudi youth.

Hisham Al Bahkali said: “The national digital vision of Saudi Arabia is a pioneering step in accelerating the Kingdom’s transformation into a digital economy. As an industrial technology company that now draws on digitization to support our partners in the Kingdom, we see this MoU as a strong platform to share our learnings and resources, especially with the Saudi youth. With a focus on digital industrial diversification, innovation, and talent development, we will work with NDU to create a thriving digital ecosystem in the Kingdom that creates high quality jobs for youth, and supports the development of a high-value supply chain led by young Saudi entrepreneurs.”

The first activity under this MOU will happen during the MISK Global Forum. The ‘Skills Garage’ workshop, hosted by Rania Rostom, Chief Innovation Officer, GE MENAT, focuses on the Industrial Internet of Things, highlighting the importance of sensors, data and analysis to connect critical machines in energy, healthcare, aviation and manufacturing. The interactive, hands-on event explores the industrial side of digital transformation and enables participants to work with the technologies that will take them into the digital industrial era. It also focused on real skills development in electronics, and an introduction to coding.

Ali Saleh, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, GE Digital Middle East, Africa & Turkey said, “GE Digital supports the digital transformation of industry in the Kingdom and around the world through the Industrial Internet of Things. Our digital applications such as Asset Performance Management (APM), or ServiceMax are purpose-build for industry. Crucially, behind the applications is Predix, our application development platform for the Industrial Internet that was purpose-built to meet the scale, complexity, speed and security requirements of industry. Leveraging these leading digital industrial solutions will enable GE and NDU to together help partners to optimize resources, reduce unexpected downtime, and maximize efficiency, effectively bringing industry into the digital future.”

GE has over 80 years of partnership in the Kingdom with over 4,000 employees, including Baker Hughes, a GE company. With nearly 50 percent of the talent in highly skilled engineering and technology roles. GE has built an advanced industrial ecosystem that includes a growing local supply chain, with significant partnerships and investments in support of the Kingdom in its economic diversification goals, including building localized manufacturing competencies.

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“As the electricity sector has undergone significant reform in the Ivory Coast, new regulations have helped foster a more welcoming environment to help Ivorians gain access to electricity,” said Luc Aye, Managing Director of Azito Energie. “At the center of this agreement with GE is our commitment to provide the people of the Ivory Coast with access to more reliable electricity. With GE’s upgrade package and digital solutions, we will produce more power, improve the efficiency of the plant and reduce our carbon footprint.”

In addition to increasing power output by up to 30 MW, upgrades on the turbines are expected to deliver a combined-cycle efficiency increase, resulting in significant fuel savings and reduced CO2 emissions. GE’s solutions will also extend inspection intervals for the gas turbines, reducing maintenance and repair expenses—which, in turn, will reduce overall plant costs and result in improving profitability.

“With the Azito power plant producing more than a third of the electricity in the Ivory Coast, these improvements will have a wide-reaching impact on the country’s energy landscape,” said Elisee Sezan, General Manager, GE’s Power Services business for sub-Saharan Africa. “Until two decades ago, the country was heavily reliant upon hydroelectric power and fell into an energy crisis when the electricity output from its dams was drastically reduced due to droughts. With this project, we look forward to supporting Azito Energie in its efforts to help the Ivory Coast achieve its strategic energy objectives to increase existing plants’ efficiency and double the installed capacity it had in early 2013 by 2020.”

The installation of GE’s Predix-based Operations Optimization solution will provide numerous operational benefits at the Azito plant. Slated for installation in mid-2018, the software will equip Azito with deep insights and key performance indicator (KPI)-based analytics to help improve overall plant performance. It delivers enterprise data visibility across power plant and fleet-wide footprints, providing a holistic understanding of operational decisions. The solution also can provide operational benefits such as:

• Improved reliability and availability via enhanced predictivity.
• More accurate performance monitoring and forecasting.
• Dispatch enhancement via improved visibility into plant capability.
• Lower production costs and asset generation forecasting for improved asset dispatch.

“With GE’s Operations Optimization software, Azito will be able to improve productivity across its worldwide fleet with fact-based actions that align to KPIs,” said Narendra Asnani, Executive Sales Director, GE’s Power Services business for sub-Saharan Africa. “It will also enable them to tackle operational issues, meet business demand, align people and systems and reach true plant capacity while reducing cost and downtime.”

GE is a historical player and a pioneer in the Ivory Coast, particularly in the power sector. For example, the first-ever gas turbines (Vridi, 1984), the first independent power production project (Ciprel, 1994) and the first combined-cycle power plants in the country (Azito and Ciprel, 2015) all run mainly on GE technology.

In 2015, the company demonstrated its commitment to help bolster the Ivorian power sector to meet future demand increases and challenges with the signing of a cross-sector memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Ivory Coast. In the MoU, GE agreed to support the country in attaining its infrastructure development goals, which include adding 1 gigawatt of power to the Ivorian national grid.

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