GE’s Power Conversion business announced it has been awarded new contracts for orders of electric power and propulsion systems on two liquid natural gas (LNG) carriers and an LNG Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU). In total, GE has signed contracts to supply systems for 26 LNG carriers and five FSRUs. In the last six months alone, the company has signed contracts worth around $80 million.
The contracts highlight the success that GE is having with its innovative power and propulsion technology in the LNG segment and elsewhere. “ We use high power pulse width modulation (PWM) technology to bring important added value to the end customer ,” says Jean-Philippe Chaignot, merchant marine business leader for GE’s Power Conversion business. “ Along with our induction motors, it is one of the most robust technologies available, and it substantially increases the overall availability of the system as a whole. ”
Recent contracts won by GE include:
Chaignot says that the electric drive concept has become the technology of choice for LNG carriers because of its overall performance. GE’s combination of high power PWM technology based on insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) together with robustly simple induction motor technology offers important advantages to ship owners.
“ The simplicity of induction-based propulsion motor technology makes it more reliable, helps lower routine or emergency maintenance costs and provide lower life-cycle costs of ownership, ” Chaignot says. “ This is a proven technology that GE’s Power Conversion business has advanced in the marine industry and which it is now applying extensively in sectors as diverse as naval, offshore, cruise ships and others, where multi-megawatt power with excellent performance in terms of power, propulsion efficiency is called for. “
Induction motors for the marine industry were developed 15 years ago by GE’s Power Conversion business for the U.S., English and French navies. Today, GE remains the only company with marine applications that combine high-powered induction motors with PWM. GE’s Power Conversion unit was the first company to equip a full-size LNG carrier with electric propulsion, Gaz de France Energy, in 2002.
[mappress] GE, April 17, 2013