BGGTS Completes 25 Years of Providing Power Services Excellence in Gas Turbine Technology

Hyderabad: BHEL-GE Gas Turbine Services (BGGTS) Private Limited, a 50:50 joint venture between Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and General Electric (GE), has today completed 25 years of offering integrated solutions for all gas turbine technology that cater to diverse market needs. Established in 1997 and located in Hyderabad, BGGTS is significantly contributing to a self-reliant India. Aligned to GE’s ‘In-Country For-Country’ approach, BGGTS provides advanced engineering and repair services to power plant operators in South Asia including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius.

BGGTS is a classic example that showcases the transfer of advanced technology by a hi-tech industrial company like GE through a partnership with an India-based power infrastructure leader like BHEL – having an extensive local footprint. Over the years, the facility has been responding to growing market needs through a bouquet of offerings such as engineering, aftermarket spares, repair services, inspection & maintenance services, remote diagnostics & monitoring, and more - providing quality after-market services for gas turbines to customers in the power sector. This is a high-tech facility where most of the processes are automated using digital solutions to increase job precision. These services help the power plant operators improve the efficiency, output, operational flexibility, and reliability of the gas turbines.

Speaking of the 25-years milestone, Lalit Sankrani, Managing Director, BGGTS, said “India is under the global spotlight when it comes to adoption of decarbonization technologies in the power sector. As we complete 25 years, we are well-positioned to continue playing a significant role in providing a robust framework of power services to further boost the inclusion of gas-based power in India’s energy mix. On this day, I would like to congratulate the past and present teams and management at BGGTS for their remarkable decision-making and focus that have led to this milestone and helped us deliver better outcomes for our customers.”

BGGTS provides expertise in Gas Turbine (GT) Services through its repairs and refurbishment facility in Hyderabad and Parts and CM&U kits through manufacturing facilities of BHEL and GE. A vastly experienced team, well-connected OEM supply network and digital initiatives coupled with innovative technology and engineering support from GE and BHEL constitute the strength of BGGTS. This enables the company to offer total solutions for parts planning, field services support, technical consultancy, GT uprates, and improvements benefitting many customers in improving their power plant performance and efficiencies. The BGGTS repair center hosts the first-of-its-kind GT bucket refurbishment facility in India that caters to GE’s F-class gas turbine combustion technology and hot gas path component repairs. Today, it handles a fleet of over 270 GT in four markets in South Asia with > 98% of repairs done in-house. This in-country facility allows customers to use the gas turbines for their entire life cycle – whereas, earlier, their use was limited to only two cycles at the most.

Additionally, the BGGTS RM&D (Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics) centre is powered by GE’s technology that enables on-site monitoring of gas turbine units installed at customer sites and automatically collects and processes data through advanced algorithms to determine fleet health and generate operational metrics. The data generated can be potentially used in risk management, outage reduction, fact-based decision making and ensuring cyber security. Stepping into its 26^th year, BGGTS will be offering RM&D services to CPCL (Chennai Power Company Limited) - for its five gas turbines installed at its Manali refinery in Chennai. It will collect unit operations data and provide remote support by analysing trends for better operability and reliability.

BGGTS has also introduced Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) robotic welding equipment for repairing the gas turbine blades. This is yet another capability among BGGTS’s state-of-the-art labs located within the repair facility. Gas turbine blades are critical components that experience harsh mechanical and metallurgical stress during continuous operation. Refurbishment plays a vital role in ensuring blade performance for entire design life of the equipment.  CMT welding is a fully automated process that deposits welds at a faster rate with lesser heat-affected zone. Such technology will be used for the first time in the GE ecosystem in India for GE’s B- & E-class gas turbine fleet.