Lahore (Staff Reporter): Since its establishment nearly 25 years ago, Sokolovska Uhelna has invested heavily in upgrading its technological units. After all, it is one of the country’s largest independent producers of electricity and the smallest brown coal mining company in the Czech Republic. The company and GE (NYSE: GE) announced that Europe’s first GE 9EMax gas turbine upgrade was successfully completed at Sokolovska Uhelna's power plant in Vresova, Czech Republic. GE’s combined-cycle capabilities and 9EMax’s performance exceeded expectations on heat rate, power output and unit flexibility. “Our two existing GE 9E gas turbines were reaching the end of their lifetime, and we evaluated many different scenarios,” said Mr. Homola, Production Director and Member of Board, Sokolovska Uhelna a.s. “After examining both operating and capital expenditures, we determined GE’s 9EMax upgrade was the best option for our plant to improve the 9E gas turbine’s performance and flexibility as well as to lower the operation and maintenance costs for the upcoming life cycle period.”
9EMax was developed utilizing GE’s deep domain experience from its global fleet of more than 700 9E gas turbines and with insights from more than 30 million hours of operating data from its installed base. It delivers significantly more power, delivering incremental revenue generation, and has a higher efficiency, which equates to millions of dollars in fuel savings. Additionally, power producers can reduce operating costs with extended planned maintenance intervals.