CLASS OF 2015
WORLD-GENERATION FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015 V.27 #1
6
President & CEO
GE’s Distributed Power
LORRAINE BOLSINGER
WORLD-GEN: LAST YEAR, GE PLEDGED $1.4
BILLION IN INVESTMENTS FOR
DISTRIBUTED POWER AND ASKED YOUTO
LEADTHE BUSINESS. HOW HASTHAT
INVESTMENT MATERIALIZED SINCE THEN?
Lorraine Bolsinger:
We’ve continued
to invest in our current products and have
the broadest gas-fired portfolio worldwide.
We’re now expanding that portfolio with
new products and services. This expansion
includes the J920 gas engine, which has the
highest simple-cycle efficiency in its class --
49 percent -- and up to 95 percent efficiency
in combined heat and power (CHP) applica-
tions. We’re having success with the J920 in
multiple countries, including the US,
Germany, China and Italy. We’re also clos-
ing orders for our upgraded aeroderivative
gas turbines and newly-launched diesel
products. Investment in our flagship gas tur-
bine, the LM6000, will increase output and
efficiency, and our upgraded LMS100 offers
more than 10 MW of additional power for
customers. We also launched our first diesel
engine in 2014 with Flour Mills PLC of
Nigeria, and this product will help meet
demand in the large diesel power segment.
This year, we’re doubling investment in
the services business through expanded
conversions, modifications and upgrades
(CM&U) offerings to help current custom-
ers achieve more productivity and get more
out of their installed units. We also will con-
tinue to grow our Predictivity software solu-
tions that use the Industrial Internet to help
customers deploy their assets better. We
have delivered more than 37,000
Distributed Power products around the
globe, so our investment in services will
provide better solutions for all of our exist-
ing customers as well as future ones.
WORLD-GEN: BACK IN JUNE,WORLD-GEN
ATTENDED YOUR LAUNCH EVENT FORTHE
J920 IN DENVER,YETTHERE HAVE BEEN
NEW SALES IN EMERGING ECONOMIES AS
WELL – WHERE IS GE FOCUSING ITS DIS-
TRIBUTED POWER BUSINESS?
Lorraine Bolsinger:
There is not a
single macro-strategy for our business to
grow globally – instead, we have a country-
by-country approach for Distributed Power
due to the variety of customers and applica-
tions. We define ‘distributed power’ as
“power generated at or near the point of
use on or off the grid,” so our business
addresses many different segments. Our
two primary applications are oil & gas and
power generation, but there are many
diverse segments within these broad cate-
gories. For example, distributed power for
oil & gas applications includes drill rig
power, pipeline compression and LNG.
Power generation applications include base
load power, cogeneration or CHP, peaking
power, and emergency power. CHP serves
industries as diverse as textiles, breweries,
and universities, so we certainly don’t have
a ‘one size fits all’ segment approach.
The majority of opportunities for power
generation reside in emerging regions, but
we continue to see opportunities in North
America for gas-fired generation as well.
Some applications, such as the power gen-
eration needs of data centers and hospitals,
are ideally suited for CHP which can
reduce costs and raise reliability for critical
infrastructure in developed economies. In
the developing world -- where we are sup-
ported by GE’s strong Global Growth
Organization with local teams -- economic
instability and lack of fully developed infra-
structure calls for technology that’s easier
to finance and faster to install, such as dis-
tributed power. These regions also need
localization of engineering and application
support, and we have expanded our region-
al teams to accommodate those needs.
WORLD-GEN: SINCE GE LAUNCHED
DISTRIBUTED POWER,WE’VE SEEN OTHER
VENDORS AND COMPETITORS LAUNCH SIM-
ILAR BUSINESSES. ISTHE SPACE GETTING
TOO CROWDED?
Lorraine Bolsinger:
We think our
competitors’ actions validate our thinking --
that there are huge opportunities for
growth in distributed power -- and we like
the advantage we have to serve customers.
We have decades of investment in technolo-
gies like aircraft engines, power generation,
oil and gas drilling equipment and locomo-
tives. In fact, our new 616 diesel engine is
derived from a locomotive engine built by
GE Transportation, and our aeroderivative
gas turbines are built on the company’s air-
craft engine heritage of more than 50 years.
Customers are able to take advantage of
this broad portfolio, and they can also
expect GE to continue investing in all these
technologies for decades to come. So we
think it’s a big segment in power genera-
tion and we like our position in it.
WORLD-GEN: A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY
REMAINS WITHTHE DISTRIBUTED POWER
MARKET POTENTIAL, PARTICULARLY WITH
ONGOING DELAYS AND FINANCING ISSUES
WITH NEW PROJECTS. HOW IS GE MANAG-
INGTHE ‘SOFTNESS’ OF THE INDUSTRY FOR
THE NEAR FUTURE?
Lorraine Bolsinger:
Even though
there is some softness in the industry, we
feel that the fundamentals of distributed
power remain. There will be continued
GDP growth and emerging regions will
have increased desire for building out
infrastructure, so we will keep investing. If
we were to stop investing in power
technology due to the industry’s slower
pace of growth, we would be placed at a
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