Perhaps the true beauty of a new widget is its adaptability to applications other than the one it was initially designed for. It makes perfect sense to maximize the knowledge gained in creating that widget by applying it wherever it may be needed. The oil and gas industry excels at this through its adaptation of technologies developed by other industries for its own use. An example that comes to mind is putting rocks in medical computerized tomography scanners to unlock the granular-scale secrets that will determine their capacity to hold oil and gas.

Another was presented during a press briefing held at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference, when GE Oil & Gas announced that it will supply UEC-Gas Turbines JSC with three compressor trains equipped with its innovative high-pressure ratio compression (HPRC) units. The units will be used as part of the reinjection in the BCS Srednebotuobinskoe oil field in East Siberia, Russia, according to a press release.

GE’s HPRC unit is “the smallest and lightest compressor yet [and] requires fewer units per train, significantly reducing overall footprint by up to 50%. The HPRC unit has a shipping weight up to 30% lighter and lower power consumption with 5% less installed power,” the release stated.

Michele Stangarone, president and CEO, Europe, GE Oil & Gas, noted during the briefing that it was the transfer of the company’s work in the aviation industry that led to the design innovations that made HPRC units possible.

However, technology transfer is not a one-way street.

In early June GE Oil & Gas announced in a release that it will be supplying Italy’s Graziella Green Power (GGP) with technologies for next-generation power stations using geothermal energy from the Val di Cecina area of the Tuscan geothermal district.

GE’s ORegen technology generates electricity using steam from below the ground without any dispersal or leakage into the environment. After use, the flow of steam can be reinjected underground in its entirety with zero atmospheric impact. It is a new application for this technology, which has previously been used for waste heat recovery in hydrocarbon-based plants.

“GE Oil & Gas has always been a leader in the development of innovative technological solutions, thinking outside the box to drive progress in the energy industry,” said Paolo Ruggeri, European manager for the GE Oil & Gas turbomachinery solutions business, in the release. “This exciting partnership with Graziella Green Power allows us to apply a technology initially developed for oil and gas in a completely new way in the geothermal sector, which has great potential for the future.”

The company will supply a complete ORegen system combined with a reciprocating compressor for reinjecting the gases alongside digital solutions built on GE’s Predix technology.

In contrast with existing technologies, the GGP plant will allow system optimization, minimizing the visual impact of the site and producing an annual energy output of 40,000 MWh of renewable clean energy, equivalent to the consumption of 14,000 families, the release said. The plant should enter the operational phase in 2018.

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