Siemens, Dewa launch digital asset optimisation project

Siemens and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) have signed an agreement to collaborate on an advanced data-driven project to drive higher levels of operational efficiency of Dewa’s power assets. The project is designed to help Dewa achieve its vision of becoming a sustainable, innovative world-class utility, and to ensure the highest levels of performance, efficiency and reliability of its power generation assets, said a statement from the company. Siemens and Dewa are working together to identify ways to improve thermal efficiency, provide cost-effective solutions for performance optimisation, manage costs and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. At the core of the project are Siemens' data-driven Digital Asset Optimisation services, part of the company's digital services for energy portfolio, and the development of a new intelligent, self-learning controller for the SGT5-4000F gas turbine, it said. Siemens' digital asset optimisation uses on-site digital monitoring of a unit's performance and advanced data analytics to more closely target a specific issue, such as age-related degradation, and to provide recommendations for an operating mode to address this and other issues that may be leading to the unit's under-performance, it added. Ten SGT5-4000F gas turbines at Dewa's L2-station and M-station were monitored over the past several months. Based on the results, Siemens and Dewa are jointly developing optimised solutions including an intelligent, self-learning gas turbine controller for automated adjustment of firing temperature to address preventable degradation. The controller development process combines gas turbine thermodynamics with advanced methods of machine learning. The new controller will be tested at Siemens gas turbine plant in Berlin, Germany, before it enters commercial operation at a Dewa plant by the end of 2017. The agreement brings the long-standing cooperation between Siemens and Dewa to a new level, paving the way for the two companies to jointly explore additional benefits of data-driven services. The implementation with Dewa's gas turbines commenced in September 2016, and is expected to be completed by September 2017. Today, 25 Siemens E- and F-class gas turbines generate approximately 5,300 MW and contribute approximately 52 per cent of the total power generation capacity of Dewa. Nasser Lootah, executive vice president of the power and water generation division at Dewa, said: “To realise our vision to become a sustainable, innovative world-class utility, and in line with the Dewa2021 strategy, which supports the Dubai Plan 2021, we work closely with our partners to implement ground-breaking and pioneering electricity projects to help ensure the economic, environmental and social sustainability of Dubai.” “This data-driven project with Siemens is another step to drive unprecedented levels of availability and reliability of electricity by reducing downtime and helping to identify operational challenges in advance. We will continue to bring cutting-edge technology to maximize the utilisation of our resources," he added. “Big data is transforming our industry into a digitally driven, intelligent ecosystem," said Gianluigi Di Giovanni, senior executive vice president of Siemens Power Generation Services in the Middle East. “Our company’s approach is to work directly with customers to jointly develop tailored data-driven service solutions that really matter to them. And we are pleased to collaborate with Dewa to help them meet their needs for operational flexibility, improved plant performance, condition-based maintenance and more.” Siemens is deploying projects and devoting significant resources to unlock the full potential of the digital transformation in the power sector. Siemens has executed similar Digital Asset Optimisation projects with new advanced intelligent controllers in the 60Hz market with select SGT6-6000G and SGT6-5000F gas turbines in the US. The Siemens Power Generation Services Division has been advancing the development of digital trends, building upon its more than 20 years of experience collecting and analysing data as part of its Power Diagnostics services. Siemens' Digital Services for Energy, running on MindSphere, combine advanced data analytics with Siemens' proven expertise to help customers fully realise the potential of their power assets for improved reliability and profitability, it stated.