GE collaborates with Jomel to set record for outage cycle time at Marafiq in Saudi Arabia

GE Power and Jomel (Jubail Operations and Maintenance Company) have achieved a new record in Saudi Arabia for the shortest planned outage cycle time for gas turbine maintenance. GE and Jomel together completed a major overhaul of a 7FA gas turbine at Marafiq, the world’s largest integrated water and power facility, in the short span of 18 days. Planned outages are critical and conducted on a regular basis to ensure the productivity, efficiency and reliable operations of turbines generating power for residential and commercial use.

Jomel is a joint venture between ENGIE and Nomac. It provides operations and maintenance services for Marafiq, which is a power and water company for Jubail and Yanbu. Working together, GE Power and Jomel completed the major outage at Marafiq well ahead of the planned 25 days. In the process, GE improved on its own Saudi Arabia record in 7FA outage cycle time of 22 days.

Stefan Verlee, General Manager of Jomel said, “Our long-term collaboration with GE brings exceptional value to our operations at Marafiq, including gas turbine upgrades, and now, achieving the complete overhaul of a 7FA unit in record time. Cutting the outage time by seven days enhances productivity at Marafiq and enables the team to deliver more electricity to benefit the local community.”

To achieve this significant milestone, GE worked closely with Jomel to plan the process, identify risks beforehand, ensure the highest standards in quality control and maintain adequate resources for a smooth and speedy execution.

“The new outage execution record at Marafiq highlights GE’s commitment to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible to deliver better results for our customers in the power generation industry,” said Joseph Anis, President & CEO of GE’s Power Services business in the Middle East & Africa. “We are proud to collaborate with Jomel to provide essential maintenance and repair services, while reducing the planned downtime of Marafiq’s critical assets, so reliable power can be on the grid for longer periods.”

The swift completion of the planned repair and maintenance of the GE 7FA gas turbines at Marafiq was also made possible by the professional services and competencies of the GE Manufacturing & Technology Center (GEMTEC) and its engineering and support team in Dammam. GEMTEC today serves more than 70 customers in over 40 countries, furthering the Kingdom’s economic diversification efforts and strengthening its digital industrial ecosystem.

“This project underlines GE’s support for higher levels of productivity in Saudi Arabia,” added Hisham Al Bahkali, President & CEO, GE Saudi Arabia & Bahrain. “GE’s investments in local facilities such as GEMTEC and strengthening the professional capabilities of Saudis help us deliver faster results for our customers and support the realization of the Kingdom’s goals under Saudi Vision 2030.”

With a capacity of 2,745 megawatts (MW) and desalination output of 800,000 cubic metres per day, the Marafiq IWPP (Independent Water & Power Plant) in Jubail is a joint venture between Marafiq, Saudi Electricity Company, the Public Investment Fund of the Ministry of Finance and the international Suez Consortium comprising Suez Energy International of Belgium, Gulf Investment Corporation of Kuwait and ACWA Power Projects of Saudi Arabia. Serving Jubail and Yanbu, the plant has 12 GE Frame 7FA gas turbine-generator sets, four steam turbine-generator sets and 12 heat recovery steam generators.

GE has over eight decades of presence in the Kingdom. With three offices, six facilities, and 2,000 employees, Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest GE workforce in the Middle East. Over 50 percent of its talent is in highly skilled engineering and technology roles, and the company has achieved a Saudization rate of 70 percent.

Source: genewsroom.com