Digital industrial giant, General Electric, completed the no-load testing of the 80-megawatt two-pole induction motor for the LNG industry in its factory in Nancy, France.
GE noted the motor is one of the world’s largest induction electric motors, leapfrogging from the 22-MW induction motor, the next highest power rating induction motor with a rotating speed up to 4,000 rotations per minute (rpm).
“In the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, reliability is the name of the game. A mid-size LNG facility could suffer costs of $4 million a day through unplanned downtime,” said Ed Torres , marine and O&G segment leader, GE’s Power Conversion business.
He added that the electric motors, running 99.5 percent of the time, are critical assets to LNG operations.
Operating at a high voltage of 11 kilovolts and running from 2,500-4,000 rpm, GE’s motor reaches efficiency up to 98.1 percent, among the highest of electric motors.
Compared to its traditional 75-MW two-pole synchronous peer, one of the highest power rating in synchronous motors, it has 10 times less rotating parts and can increase operational reliability, leading to 48 percent more uptime and greater availability.
The design also results in a 30 percent smaller footprint and weight, providing flexibility when integrating the equipment into existing plant infrastructure.