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TECHNOLOGY

N.Y.'s a real-time test bed for GE's 'digital grid'

The New York Power Authority's footprint includes 16 generators and 1,400 miles of transmission lines. It has giant hydropower turbines downstream from Niagara Falls and gas-fired power stations on Long Island. The latest grid software is at its disposal.

A state-of-the-art computer model developed by NYPA and General Electric Co. knows how the system is supposed to churn out electricity across the state when everything runs smoothly. They call the modeling a "digital twin" for generators on the ground.

BUSINESS

GE pulls profits from its 'Big Data' campaign

ATLANTA — In more than 600 power plants around the world, gas-fired turbine generators made by General Electric Co. push electricity onto grids that light up cities and countrysides.

Oceans of data from sensors pour from the plants at a furious speed over Internet-cloud connections to reach a GE operations center outside Atlanta. Inside the GE Power division's Monitoring and Diagnostics Center, the data streams deliver instantaneous measurements of temperature, vibration, pressure and other vital signs of a turbine's performance.

TECHNOLOGY

GE takes forward step in long recovery march

General Electric Co.'s first earnings report of 2018 provided overall signs of recovery for the burdened company, but not for its trademark GE Power division, whose generators produce more than one-quarter of global electricity by the company's count.

On Friday, GE reported adjusted earnings of 16 cents per share, with $28.7 billion revenue for 2018's first quarter, a better-than-expected result that bumped up its stock by nearly 4 percent Friday. Revenue was up 7 percent and adjusted earnings 14 percent over 2017's first quarter.

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TECHNOLOGY

Beleaguered GE seeks a 3‑dimensional fix

GREENVILLE, S.C. — The shiny metal tube in Kurt Goodwin's hand looks like a magician's work.

A little smaller than a soda can, its thick walls are pierced by a series of holes seemingly drilled lengthwise, surrounding the center passageway. Except on second glance, the holes are uniformly curved. No drill could do that, confirms Goodwin, the leader of General Electric Co.'s $73 million advanced manufacturing center here in Greenville.

Goodwin is happy to show the piece off to a visitor, but no images, thank you. It is still proprietary. CONTINUE READING >>>

TECHNOLOGY

The wonder and woe of GE's turbine business

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Inside the cavernous General Electric assembly building here, plant manager Gary Wiesner led a visitor to a completed 7HA.02 gas turbine that awaited an application of shrink wrap for its journey to the Tierra Mojada power plant in Guadalajara, Mexico.

A 950,000-pound assemblage of fan blades, combustion chambers, nozzles and igniters — consider it a massive jet engine with a drive shaft down the middle — the HA turbine dwarfed Wiesner.

It is GE's latest wonder. Last year, GE's turbines also became its woe. CONTINUE READING >>>

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