• NV Energy adopts Bently Nevada* Essential Insight.mesh* wireless condition monitoring to improve its operating reliability and efficiency
HOUSTON, TX, Oct. 6, 2009 -- GE Energy announced today the successful installation of its Bently Nevada Essential Insight.mesh wireless condition monitoring technology at the NV Energy Ft. Churchill Operating Station in Yerington, Nev., U.S.A. This new, innovative technology is helping to improve overall plant reliability and efficiency by extending condition monitoring to a broader array of essential assets that were previously underserved and/or classified as mid-to low-criticality.
GE's wireless technology provides power plant owners the opportunity to invest in trouble-free and cost-effective condition monitoring upgrades. By helping plants operate smarter, owners can see increases in efficiency, reliability and uptime, which can translate to a reduction in operating expense.
"We were excited to be the first plant in NV Energy to utilize this new technology," said Greg Bushman, plant manager at Ft. Churchill. "We have always used Bently Nevada condition monitoring for our critical assets, so it seemed like a natural fit to extend this to our essential assets as well."
Previously, plant assets had to be monitored via walk-around programs using portable data collectors. In many cases, this made certain equipment difficult to monitor due to accessibility or logistical challenges. Wireless technology -- combinedwith Bently Nevada expertise -- changes that equation.
At Ft. Churchill, GE deployed Essential Insight.mesh wireless vibration sensors on a wide range of pumps and fans, both rapidly and withease. Anomalies detected on cooling water pumps confirmed the need to plan and schedule repairs. In addition, the data from these assets is now wirelessly transmitted and fully integrated into GE's System 1*diagnostic platform. This provides plant-wide analysis and insight to support smarter decision-making, thus reducing costs of plant operations and maintenance. These benefits are now giving NV Energy the confidence to consider expanding wireless technology to other essential applications such as remotedeep-well pumps, cooling towers and beyond.
"We have worked closely with the NV Energy team for many years to ensure that their plant operations and training needs are consistently met," said Brian Palmer, vice president of GE Energy, Optimization and Control. "GE is pleased to be partnering with our local utility in Nevada and we look forward to continuing our long working relationship with NV Energy in the future."
About GE Energy
GE Energy (www.ge.com/energy) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies, with 2008 revenue of $29.3 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Energy works in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels. Numerous GE Energy products are certified under ecomagination, GE's corporate-wide initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that will help customers meet pressing environmental challenges.
About GE
GE is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com. GE is Imagination at Work.
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