<p></p><p>GE’s Power Services business said on Monday that it will upgrade four GT13E2 gas turbines at the Phu My power complex of EVN Power Generation Corporation 3 (EVNGENCO3) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. <br></p> <p>The project in the southern province is the first GT13E2 MXL2 gas turbine upgrade order in Asia of the company after it acquired Alstom’s Power & Grid businesses. <br></p> <p>As part of GE’s recent acquisition of Alstom’s Power & Grid businesses, GE’s Power Services integrated a number of Alstom generating technologies into its portfolio, including the GT13E2 turbine, as well as the MXL2 upgrade package. GE also assumed responsibility for a portfolio of Alstom power plant services contracts, including a long-term service agreement for the Phu My power complex <br></p> <p>Dinh Quoc Lam, president and CEO of EVNGENCO3, said in a statement that the corporation values the proven performance of utilizing the GT13E2 gas turbine technology and is cooperating with GE on MXL2 service upgrade solutions to achieve its operational goals. <br></p> <p>The upgrades are expected to deliver a combined-cycle efficiency increase of 1%, resulting in fuel saving of almost 2% and reduced CO2 emissions. Power output will rise by 50 megawatts (MW) and gas turbine inspection intervals will extend to 48,000 equivalent operating hours to reduce maintenance and repair expenses, reducing plant costs and improving profitability. <br></p> <p>Paul McElhinney, president and CEO of GE’s Power Services business, said in the statement that with the acquisition of Alstom’s power generation technology and services capabilities, the business is now able to provide power plant operators with an even greater range of hardware and software solutions to reduce their fuel and equipment lifecycle costs and strengthen their competitiveness. <br></p> <p>“With Vietnam’s energy demand rising by more than 10% annually, the additional 50 MW this project brings will help ease national power shortages, particularly for the southern part of Vietnam,” McElhinney said. <br></p> <p>The GT13E2 MXL2 upgrade uses Alstom’s F-class turbine blading technology to increase efficiency and extend turbine lifetime. Improved turbine sealing minimizes losses, while advanced cooling technologies enable extension of the service interval. <br></p> <p>The Phu My upgrade project also supports GE’s focus on Vietnam’s energy sector as part of its Asia Pacific growth strategy. <br></p> <p>In September this year, GE announced that it will provide two high-efficiency, supercritical steam turbines and generators for PetroVietnam’s Long Phu 1 coal-fired power plant. <br></p> <p>Viet Nam could meet agriculture export targets in 2015: ministry <br></p> <p>Viet Nam could well meet the target of US$30 billion in agro, forestry and fishery exports for 2015 as total exports in 11 months ending in November reached $27.41 billion. <br></p> <p>The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that export value of farming, forestry and fishery products from January to November had a year-on-year reduction of 1.9 per cent to US$27.4 billion, including $2.57 billion in November. <br></p> <p>The reduction rate in the first 11 months was lower than the plunge rate of 3.8 per cent in the first ten months, said the ministry. So, it expected the total national export value of farming, forestry and fishery products to gain the target for this whole year. <br></p> <p>During the first 11 months, the export value fell by 4 per cent to $12.74 billion for major farming products, and 16.4 per cent to $6.01 billion for seafood product. But it increased by 8.2 per cent to $6.4 billion for forestry products. <br></p> <p>Most of the farming products saw a fall in the export value, especially key export farming products such as rice, seafood and coffee, the ministry said. <br></p> <p>The strongest reduction in the first 11 months was coffee exports with 27.7 per cent in volume and 30.2 per cent in value against the same period of last year. The coffee exports reached 1.13 million tons in volume and $3.3 billion in value, of which 85,000 tons in November, earning $162 million. <br></p> <p>Rice exports also posted a 4.9 per cent drop in value to $2.65 billion despite a 3.6 per cent increase in quantity to 6.24 million tons in the first 11 months. <br></p> <p>Meanwhile, an upward trend was recorded in the export of pepper, cashew nut, cassava and cassava-based commodities, with revenues rising from between 2.9 per cent and 19 per cent. <br></p> <p>Significant fall of seafood product exports to the United States of over 25 per cent, Japan of 13 per cent, and South Korea of 14 per cent, resulted in the decline of 16.4 per cent in total aquaculture export value in the reviewed period. <br></p> <p>In the near future, the ministry would organise more trade promotion activities in some foreign markets, aiming to sell dragon fruits to the Japanese market and chicken to Russia while expanding its foothold in potential markets. <br></p> <p>The ministry would also keep production at certain levels to increase quality and competitive ability for advantageous products of Viet Nam such as rice, coffee, rubber, and fish, in addition to pepper and cashew.<br></p><p></p>