GE plans low cost, clean energy solutions for India

Bullish on the Indian power sector, US conglomerate General Electric will look at offering low cost and clean energy solutions in the country.

"We will continue to pursue low-cost energy production in the cleanest form for all our customers in the Indian market," GE Energy India President and CEO Kishore Jayaraman told PTI.

The company would be focusing on higher efficiency products such as FlexEfficiency 50 gas turbine and super-critical steam turbines for thermal power generation.

"GE Energy is very excited on the growth of the Indian power sector and would leverage its technology innovation and portfolio diversity to bring clean energy solutions across the entire spectrum of power generation," Jayaraman noted.

The American gaint recently unveiled FlexEfficiency 50 (FE 50) technology, which can meet environmental and grid conditions/regulations of major markets, including India.

In India, FE 50 would be targeted at gas-based power producers in both state-owned utilities and Independent Power Producers, Jayaraman said.

He said FE 50 would help in improving the viability of new gas-based power generation projects, especially since technology efficiency would be key in balancing cost of generating power.

"... As the grid acquires more renewable energy, the flexible operations feature of the FE50 technology complements the deployment of renewable energy and allows for gas power plants to ramp up and down depending on the variances of renewable sources to maintain overall grid stability," he said.

With rising demand for electricity and ambitious capacity addition plans, power utilities in the country are expected to make huge investments in high efficiency technologies.

Indian power sector is projected to see capacity addition of about 1,00,000 MW in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

GE Energy is also into renewable energy segment and its products for wind and solar power target higher energy production that would help in bringing down generation costs.