By Josephine Akaerr, Special Correspondent

GE  has announced , on the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the successful completion of service works at four LM6000 aeroderivative gas turbines at the Songas Ubungo Power Plant in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  Amidst the pandemic, the work was executed safely and ensured the continued delivery of up to 150 megawatts (MW) of electricity from the units to the national grid. The service work conducted, which includes predictive maintenance with routine parts replacement, also boosted performance and reliability and improved the operational efficiency and flexibility of the power plant.

 “Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, GE succeeded in helping us improve our power generation capabilities, through its upgrades and maintenance solutions,” said Songas Plant Manager, Dr. Michael Mngodo. “We are pleased that the service interventions were executed on time to the highest standard of safety and quality, increasing the availability and overall reliability of our power plant,” he added.

Engineers from FieldCore, GE’s owned field services company, worked in collaboration with Songas under the established COVID-19 site protocols to ensure the safe completion of the project. The Ubungo power plant provides nearly 12 percent of the grid connected power in Tanzania. The gas turbines are equipped with SPRINT (SPRayINTercooling) technology, which increases gas turbine performance, improves power flexibility, enhances the combustion system, improves fuel efficiency, extends maintenance intervals for the combustor, hot section and major overhaul and lowers maintenance costs.

“We are honored by the trust placed by Songas in our team’s ability to execute critical maintenance work at the Songas Power Plant, and to have delivered on that trust,” said CEO of GE Gas Power Sub-Saharan Africa, Elisee Sezan. “This project illustrates our commitment to work with our customers, like

Songas, to provide industry-leading technologies and advanced services that help power plant operators around the world meet their operational needs and fuel the economic growth of the countries where they operate,” he added.

The announcement was made on April 28 in conjunction with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work which focuses on strategies to strengthen national occupational safety and health systems. “We are working with our customers, while coordinating with local governments, to ensure the health and safety of our employees and suppliers during this pandemic. The excellent professionalism and dedication to safety of all teams was crucial to the success of the service work,” said Sezan.

With almost 70 years of presence in Sub-Saharan Africa, GE has been collaborating with energy stakeholders to deploy innovative technologies tailored to respond to the needs of the Sub-Saharan Africa region with reliable baseload and flexible power. GE delivers across the entire energy ecosystem from generation to transmission and distribution and throughout the region, GE-built technologies are supported by GE local service and maintenance teams working together and in close co-operation with FieldCore to help ensure access to reliable and sustainable energy.