GE Aeroderivative Gas Turbine to Power New District Heating Project in Italy

• Growth in District Heating Part of Larger Distributed Power Mega-Trend
• Flexibility, Reliability and Efficiency of GE’s LM6000-PF Sprint Gas Turbine Allow the End User to be more Competitive

HOUSTON, TEXAS and MILAN, ITALY —April 4, 2012—GE (NYSE: GE) today announced that it will provide an LM6000-PF Sprint aeroderivative gas turbine and related services to Enipower S.p.A. (Eni) for its Bolgiano district heating plant in San Donato Milanese, near Milan, Italy. The Bolgiano cogeneration plant (CHP) produces thermal energy both for district heating and cooling for Eni headquarters, municipal buildings and residential users.

The Bolgiano CHP currently produces more than 267,000 megawatt (MW) hours of thermal energy per year using four GE gas turbines. The network extends for about 56 kilometers and is providing heat and hot water for 20,000 Italian families.

Due to the IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) prescriptions and the age of the plant, Eni is taking the opportunity to upgrade the CHP by installing a new aeroderivative gas turbine and other new equipment to increase plant flexibility and efficiency.

“GE’s experience and proven technology in district heating applications made it a natural fit for the expansion of our Bolgiano plant,” said Mr. Marco Moretti, engineering leader, Enipower, S.p.A. “The new GE gas turbine will allow us to improve the plant’s energy efficiency and reduce emissions while providing much needed heat for our customers.”

Energy savings for the new Bolgiano district heating plant are estimated at 181,000 MW hours of thermal energy per year, equal to approximately 15,600 TOE (tonne of oil equivalent) per year. When completed, the plant anticipates an 84 percent reduction of NOx emissions and a 20 percent reduction of CO2 emissions.

In addition to improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions, district heating plants such as Enipower’s offer many benefits such as:

• Cost-effective production of electricity and thermal energy for heating of buildings and residential areas;
• Reduction of CO2, NOx and particulate matter emissions;
• Advantages for the end users who do not need to purchase and maintain their hot water producing boilers;

“Growth in district heating applications is an increasing part of the larger, global mega-trend story around distributed power, or what we like to call ‘growth on decentralized power.’ In a changing world with diverse power needs, GE’s portfolio of innovative distributed power solutions, ranging from 100 kilowatts to 100 MWs, gives businesses and communities around the world the ability to generate reliable, flexible and efficient power anywhere, whether on or off the grid,” said Diarmaid Mulholland, president and regional CEO Western Europe, GE Energy. “The Enipower project underscores our commitment to providing our customers with advanced distributed power technology for increased energy efficiency and emissions reduction, allowing businesses and communities to become their own energy supplier and making the end users more competitive through our technology’s flexibility, reliability and efficiency.”

GE’s ecomagination-approved LM6000-PF features high efficiency, superior fuel gas consumption and fuel flexibility, coupled with lower emissions and water usage in both the 50 and 60 Hz segments, all while providing full generating capacity within 10 minutes. GE’s LM6000-PF is an industry leader in the 35-60 MW range. With the highest reliability (more than 99 percent) and availability (more than 97 percent) in its range, the LM6000-PF has high fuel efficiency, versatile operational flexibility and proven dry low emissions (DLE) technology that can guarantee NOx emissions as low as 15 ppm. Higher efficiency enables lower fuel consumption per unit of power output than competitive technologies, yielding fuel cost savings and NOx and CO2 reductions for turbine operators.

Commercial operation is expected in December 2013. More than 100 of GE’s LM aeroderivative gas turbines are installed in Italy in the independent power generation, oil and gas and marine segments. The first of GE’s LM6000 units began commercial operation 20 years ago at the Ottawa Health Services facility. The shipment of the 1,000th LM6000 unit was announced in January 2011.

GE’s aeroderivative business, headquartered in Houston, Texas, brings power to businesses and communities around the world by modifying highly reliable GE aviation engines to burn natural gas, diesel and/or biofuels for efficient, reliable energy. These jet engine-based power generation units, which range from 18-100 MW, help energy companies take advantage of the growing trend to use abundant, cleaner-burning natural gas for power generation. GE’s aeroderivative gas turbines have been selected for a multitude of energy applications, ranging from power generation to the exploration, production and transmission of oil and gas. The units also have marine propulsion system applications including transport, ferryboat and cruise ships.