A great collaboration between two parties can lead to better creativity, productivity and results. In the case of the GE Power and Jomel (Jubail Operations and Maintenance Company) teams, the collaboration resulted in setting a record for the shortest planned outage cycle time for a GE 7FA gas turbine in Saudi Arabia!

GE and Jomel together completed a major overhaul of a 7FA gas turbine at Marafiq, the world’s largest integrated water and power facility, in the short span of 18 days – a whole week before the 25 days originally scheduled for the exercise.

Planned outages are critical and conducted on a regular basis to ensure the productivity, efficiency, and reliability of turbines generating power for residential and commercial use.

“Our long-term collaboration with GE brings exceptional value to our operations at Marafiq, including gas turbine upgrades, and now, achieving the complete overhaul of a 7FA unit in record time,” said Stefan Verlee, General Manager of Jomel. “Cutting the outage time by seven days enhances productivity at Marafiq and enables the team to deliver more electricity to benefit the local community.”

GE and Jomel worked closely to plan the process, identify the risks beforehand, ensure the highest standards in quality control, and maintain adequate resources for the smooth and speedy execution of the job. The successful repair and maintenance of the GE 7FA gas turbine at Marafiq was also due to the local capabilities and professional services of the GE Manufacturing & Technology Center (GEMTEC) and its engineering and support team in Dammam. GEMTEC today serves more than 70 customers in over 40 countries, furthering the Kingdom’s economic diversification efforts and strengthening its digital industrial ecosystem.

With a capacity of 2,745 megawatts (MW) and desalination output of 800,000 cubic meters per day, the Marafiq IWPP (Independent Water & Power Plant) in Jubail is a joint venture between Marafiq, Saudi Electricity Company, the Public Investment Fund of the Ministry of Finance, and the international Suez Consortium comprising Suez Energy International of Belgium, Gulf Investment Corporation of Kuwait and ACWA Power Projects of Saudi Arabia. Serving Jubail and Yanbu, the plant has 12 GE Frame 7FA gas turbine-generator sets, four steam turbine-generator sets and 12 heat recovery steam generators.