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Younicos Adds Five Executives to Spur Energy Storage Sales

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Intelligent grid and energy storage solutions company Younicos AG has appointed a new executive team of former managers at companies including General Electric Co. and Areva SA to conitune to build its reputation in the energy-storage technology sector.

The German firm has also created three new business divisions to help build and market its products, which rely on software and the company’s technology to store electricity.

GE scales back battery plant

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GE scales back at its Durathon battery plant

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sodium nickel

General Electric is to reduce the production capacity at its sodium nickel battery factory in Schenectady, US, after facing a lack of orders.

GE will also move a “significant portion” of hourly plant workers at the facility to its steam turbine and generator operations at another site. The plans will affect 400 people currently working at the Schenectady plant, which will be downsized to 50 people over the next months.

General Electric to supply 25MW turbines to Nigeria

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General Electric is to provide three 25MW aeroderivative gas turbines to GEL Utility Limited (GEL) in Nigeria.

GEL is to install the trailer-mounted turbines at Nigerian’s National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) state oil refinery at Port Harcourt to overcome chronic local grid outages and generate uninterruptible power. The engines are designed to provide baseload and backup power to support refinery operations.

The 49-year-old Port Harcourt facility is the country’s largest oil refinery and aims to regain full capacity for refining from its present 30% output. It has a total maximum capacity of 210,000 barrels per day.

“This project was not only important in getting the refinery back into full operation, but also to support Nigeria's long-term economic interests by achieving optimum refining capacity," said GEL chief executive Akinowole Omoboriowo.

The chronic power outages have forced Nigeria to import large amounts of refined petroleum to meet the electricity demand. The installation of General Electric’s turbines is to reduce the imports.

The units will start operations this month.

GEL signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Nigerian National Power Petroleum Corporation to modernise also two other refineries in the country.

GE to launch fuel cell plant and “in-house start-up”

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General Electric (GE) is to set up a fuel cell pilot development and manufacturing plant in the state of New York, US.

The plant will be run by a new “in-house start-up” the company has created, consisting of a team of 17 engineers.

Head of the independent start-up is GE’s advanced technology leader at GE Global Research, Johanna Wellington. Her Global Research division team developed a technology that enables a fuel cell power generation with 65% efficiency and the ability to reach 95% when the system is configured to capture waste heat produced by the process.

The GE’s start-up will utilise this technology at the new plant. The basic configuration of the system can generate between 1 to 10MW of power, the company claimed.

"We have all of the speed, agility and focus of a small startup while leveraging the strength of a big company," said Wellington. The fuel cell development received financial background from GE’s ecomagination programme and can generate electricity at any location with a supply of natural gas, GE claimed.

"The cost challenges associated with the technology have stumped a lot of people for a long time," said Wellington. "But we made it work, and we made it work economically," she added.

GE launches modular data centre called PowerMOD

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General Electric has launched a turnkey power system module that can be used to expand existing data centres or to provide new and temporary capacity to companies requiring data centre services.

The PowerMOD can be configured with a range of electrical components including automatic transfer switches, switchboards, UPSs and transformers.

The modular containers are available to provide between 200kW to 1500kW back up power and can be commissioned within five months. GE believes this quick deployment will appeal to customers requiring a faster solution than a traditionally built data centre, as well as offering capital savings.

The PowerMOD unit can be cooled with free cooling (via an economiser), direct expansion, chilled water or evaporative cooling.

New York battery plans to expand

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General Electric Co said it will invest $70 million in its Schenectady battery plant in New York to double production and create 100 jobs there. This will take the plant’s workforce 450 at full capacity.
The factory manufactures GE's Durathon batteries, which are half the size of conventional lead-acid batteries but last ten times longer.