How can power plant
operators be ready
for today’s challenges,
and tomorrow’s?
Answers for energy.
Helping you to meet the
toughest challenges
Power plant
operators face
some increasingly
tough challenges.
❚ New legislation demands ever cleaner plants with significantly lower emissions. How can you cost-effectively meet the latest carbon targets?
❚ Many older stations need to continue generating beyond the end of their intended life. How can you make your investment last longer?
❚
The rise of renewable energy is resulting in a dramatically different operating regime.
How do you ensure your plant is responsive in
a volatile market?
❚
The shift from conventional coal-fired plants to combined-cycle stations calls for different skills and knowledge. How do you ensure you have the people you need?
❚ Above all, how do you service and maintain
your power plant without ever compromising
on safety?
We’re in business
to help you find
answers to all these
questions.
Siemens Energy Service works with power plant
operators in the UK and around the world to address
the toughest challenges in today’s power generation
market. We understand the demands of your
environment and we listen to what you want to
achieve. We provide tailored solutions that draw upon
the knowledge and expertise we’ve gained over many
years and across many projects. And we have a
flexible way of working that is as key to success as our
technical excellence.
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How can I ensure the maximum
availability of my power plant?
A
vailability is of the highest importance to any
power plant operator. To ensure optimised
revenue, plants need to be available for the
maximum possible period of time. Planned
downtime must therefore be kept to an absolute
minimum and unplanned outages avoided.
That in turn means reliability is all-important.
Siemens follows a highly structured outage planning
process to ensure that any refurbishment or maintenance
project is completed within the tightest of timescales.
Many months prior to major work being carried out at a
plant, we map every stage of our involvement including
preparation, implementation and post-project follow-up
to ensure work is completed safely, on time and with no
hidden surprises.
Siemens listen and they fully understand
what’s important to us
In addition, our condition monitoring systems minimise
the likelihood of unplanned shutdowns by identifying in
advance when equipment needs attention. Armed with
this intelligence, you can take corrective action and
schedule outages at the time that best suits you, rather
than react to unplanned circumstances or resort to crisis
management. Similarly, should you need to delay an
outage for any reason and continue operating for
additional hours, our condition monitoring systems give
you the confidence to do so.
Our ongoing investment in R&D ensures that we are
setting ever-higher standards when it comes to
reliability – so much so that we enter into agreements
with our customers whereby we guarantee plant
availability. In addition, our highly-skilled engineering
teams who monitor plant equipment are able to draw on
years of reference data from power stations around the
world to ensure we deliver the quickest and most
effective response to any operational challenge.
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Rye House, a 685MW combined cycle gas turbine
power plant, was built by Siemens in the early
1990s and has been serviced by the company ever
since. In 2009, owner ScottishPower entered into a
10-year agreement with Siemens to maintain the
three gas turbines, generators and steam turbine.
“Apart from safety, availability is our lead
performance indicator and the main metric against
which we’re measured,” says Mike Woodhouse,
Rye House station manager. “Maximising plant
availability is our number one driver. Any increase
in plant availability will improve our ability to
generate electricity and ensure that the station
remains profitable.
“Siemens has a very important role in that as the
maintainer of the most critical part of the plant, the
gas turbines. They are key assets and they have to be
reliable. We don’t have a turbine on standby, so if one
of them isn’t running for any reason, we’ve lost
availability and revenue.
“Five years ago, there was some room for
improvement in the service we got from Siemens.
Today, we feel they listen to us and fully understand
what’s important to us. They know what we need and
they’re working with us to achieve that.
“That’s the dividend of a long-term agreement: you
work as partners. We meet and update each other
very regularly and we flag any issues early so there
are no hidden surprises. We understand each other’s
challenges and work through them together.
“Having the best technology is a given, it’s
something we expect, and it’s never let us down.
One of Siemens’ strengths is the depth of technical
knowledge. We know that however complex the issue,
someone in Siemens can come up with an answer.
“Another strength has been the stability of the
outage team. We work with mostly the same group of
people every time, so people aren’t starting from
scratch. Establishing good personal relationships
always stands you in good stead.”
One key way Siemens can add value is by reducing
outages says Mike. “If we can cut a few days off an
outage, that’s very valuable time, and Siemens is
working with us to do that,” says Mike. “They also
start on the agreed day, complete on time or earlier,
and carry out the work safely. That’s a massive tick
in the box.”
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How can I ensure my plant is
running at optimum efficiency?
P
ower plant operators around the world are
under pressure to meet increasingly strict
environmental legislation. Running cleaner, lower
emission plants that burn less fuel is a high priority
in our carbon-conscious world, and with these
increases in environmental efficiency come
financial dividends too.
Siemens is a world leader when it comes to developing
cleaner, more efficient power plants. By taking the best
from our new turbine development programme, such as
our next-generation 3D blading technology, we’ve
produced a wide variety of modifications and upgrades
for enhancing existing installations.
Upgrading gas and steam turbines with the latest
technology can deliver major savings on emissions and
fuels. As well as optimising the performance of the
turbines, we can also optimise the efficiency of the
overall plant, including the generators and electrical
systems. And, if a plant switches to an alternative fuel,
we can help it to operate more efficiently under different
design conditions.
Every year our major investment in R&D leads to new
technologies and solutions that will help to reduce your
plant’s emissions and improve its performance. These
enhancements can in turn extend maintenance intervals
and improve availability.
We enjoy working with Siemens
because they do what they say they will
When Drax Power Limited decided to undertake
the largest steam turbine modernisation project in
UK history, improved efficiency was the number
one driver. “Our primary goal is to cut our CO2
emissions by five per cent – or one million tonnes a
year – by replacing the station’s high and low
pressure turbines,” explains project manager Les
Lemmon. “That will take our overall efficiency
close to 40 per cent and strengthen our position as
the UK’s most efficient coal-fired generator.”
Other expected dividends from the £100 million
contract Drax has with Siemens are improving the
reliability and availability of generation output.
“We’re a single power station company: Drax is our
only generation asset. We can’t afford to have
reliability issues; this plant has to work when we
want it to. So although increased efficiency was the
main driver, any drop in reliability would have wiped
out those benefits.”
One factor in awarding Siemens the contract
following a competitive tender was its commitment
to a partnership approach. “We wanted to run this
contract in a completely different way and work
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together as one team,” says Les. “Drax people and
Siemens people share the same office and when
issues arise they solve them together. A few clashes
are inevitable because our priorities will sometimes
differ, but we’ve eased those pinch points and
reached very good compromises.
“When Siemens committed to the first ever 55-day
retrofit programme for high pressure and low
pressure turbines we didn’t believe it was possible,
but by working together, by jointly agreeing
priorities day to day, and by never reverting to the
traditional contractor-client relationship, that’s what
we achieved,” adds Les.
“The technology is all-important, but ultimately you
want to work with people who have the engineering
capability to deliver on their promises. That’s the
reason why we enjoy working with Siemens: they do
what they say they will. All four of the six major
retrofits we’ve completed so far have been
completed to time and to quality, and the fact that
Siemens won our safety contractor of the year award
shows they’ve done so without compromising safety
in any way.”
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How can I ensure my plant maintains
an excellent safety record?
P
ower plant shareholders and stakeholders
rightly expect the very highest safety
standards. For Siemens, too, safety is the number
one priority and we work closely with our
customers and suppliers to ensure we meet or
exceed our legal obligations.
Across the company, we demand the highest standards
of health and safety in everything we do and are
committed to creating a culture in which all employees
proactively report safety concerns. We don’t simply see
safety as a set of rules and processes; it’s about
challenging people’s attitudes and changing behaviour.
There is never room for complacency when it comes to
safety, and at Siemens we’re striving to improve our
safety record year on year through a programme of
continuous improvement. To help drive behavioural
change and instil a safety culture, safety training and
awareness sessions take place throughout the year and
are attended by all employees. If safety remains at the
front of everyone’s mind, then we believe zero harm is
an achievable goal.
One way of ensuring we remain one of the best safety
performers in the industry – in addition to running an
extensive and ongoing training programme – is by
having a steady workforce. The fact that our service
teams often have an intimate knowledge of our
customers’ sites, and so are closely aware of any
potential risks, is one reason why we’re able to achieve
excellent safety records.
Our focus on safety can never let up,
and Siemens shares that fundamental belief
Since Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station first started
generating electricity in the 1960s, maximising
efficiency and meeting the highest environmental
standards have been continuing priorities.
E.ON has previously invested £250 million in a flue gas
desulphurisation plant to cut sulphur dioxide
emissions at the 2,000MW coal-fired station by at least
92 per cent, and is now installing selective catalytic
reduction equipment to reduce nitrogen oxide
emissions and meet the latest government targets.
“These environmental initiatives will mean Ratcliffe
can both continue operating well beyond its original
design life and also run considerably more cleanly
than ever before,” says Nigel Bates, technical
programme manager. “But at the same time, we need
to maintain and enhance the performance of other key
components so that security of supply is guaranteed.”
When E.ON placed a five-year maintenance contract
with Siemens, they were looking not simply for a
supplier to service their plant but for innovative ways
of working that would deliver additional performance
dividends. “Technical expertise and quality of work are
givens,” says Nigel. “We also want to see innovation –
not just around products, but in tools and techniques
and the way work is planned and managed – and
Siemens is very much with us on that.”
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Other expectations include taking out cost and adding
value. “Siemens is very open with us – we have an open
book contract which gives us complete visibility of their
costs – and that’s important. We understand each
other’s challenges and have honest discussions about
how we can work together to drive value.”
Safety is another area where there is complete
alignment. “Safety’s our number one priority at
Ratcliffe and the Siemens team very actively supports
all of our safety initiatives. The drive and commitment
that Siemens puts behind safety is very much aligned
with our own, and we regularly share ideas and best
practice to push our safety performance still higher,”
says Nigel. “Our focus on safety can never let up, and
Siemens shares that fundamental belief.”
Jeff Archer, who is responsible for the turbine works at
Ratcliffe, agrees. “The primary aim of any outage is to
carry out work safely. Time and cost are very important,
but if we hurt someone then we’ve failed our main
objective. The fact Siemens had no accidents last year
shows safety is top of their agenda too.”
He values the experience of the Siemens team, some of
whom have worked at Ratcliffe for over 20 years. “The
teamwork is strong and there’s a definite can-do attitude.
Siemens understand what we’re trying to achieve and
they’re realists too. When they draw up a programme,
we’re confident they’ll deliver on their promises.”
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How can I ensure I have people with
the right skills to support my plant?
Siemens’ detailed knowledge and depth of
expertise can be priceless
F
or power plant operators to be confident that
refurbishment and maintenance work will be
carried out safely, on time, to cost and to the
required quality standards, they need to have
complete faith in the skills of the service team.
We focus not only on training new recruits, such as
apprentices – three-quarters of whom go on to study for
a degree – but on continually refreshing and upgrading
the skills of our existing employees. In an industry where
technology is always changing, it’s vital that our
workforce keeps pace with the latest developments.
Our £4 million investment in a new training centre in
Newcastle shows how seriously we take the development
of our employees. As well as state-of-the-art classrooms
fully equipped with the latest IT, the centre has a
dedicated training area containing steam and gas
10
Having been in operation since the mid 60s, Tilbury
Power Station is nearing the end of its generating
life. In recent years, more than ever, investment
has been carefully weighed against performance
improvement as Gary Kirby, lead turbine engineer
at RWE npower, explains.
turbines and generators. This enables employees to be
trained in a working environment very similar to that
which they will find out in the field and to benefit from
real hands-on experience.
All of the training courses which we run for our field
service employees have been accredited by the ECITB
[Engineering Construction Industry Training Board],
which ensures our people are being trained to the
highest national standards. This same approach extends
to courses we deliver for employees working in our
factory in Newcastle, which have been approved by EAL
[EMTA Awards Limited], the UK’s leading awarding
organisation for engineering qualifications. In readiness
for the new generation of nuclear power plants planned
in the UK, we are also an accredited nuclear training
provider. Having these independent seals of approval
shows that our training is best in class.
“When Siemens completed the high and low
pressure turbine upgrades several years ago, the
plant was close to 40 years old and had far exceeded
its expected life,” says Gary. “We were looking for
two main dividends: improved reliability and
increased efficiency. It was a sizeable undertaking
and required an innovative approach, but with both
parties working as one unified team the project met
all expectations.”
More recently, Siemens answered an emergency
breakdown call after an electrical fault resulted in
major damage to a generator stator core. “Our
engineering teams agreed that the best solution
would be to remove the damaged core and replace
it with one from a unit that had been taken offline
some years ago, albeit the replacement also needed
repair work. Within just two days of our call,
Siemens had mobilised the necessary resources
to begin the work.
“It went like clockwork from concept to
completion,” says Gary. “Both teams worked
closely together to share ideas on the best way
forward, with Siemens providing detailed
knowledge about the construction of the stator
cores as well as sharing experience from other
plants. That depth of expertise can be priceless.
We have our own engineering specialists but
Siemens has that extra tier of design knowledge
to back us up. It was a very impressive response.”
He stresses the importance of teamwork. “We have
to be very flexible as a generator, and we look for
that same flexibility in our suppliers. You can have
the best technology in the world, but it counts for
nothing if people are difficult to work with. We’ve
an excellent relationship with the Siemens team,
both in the works and on site, and that’s at the root
of our success. We feel we can rely on Siemens.”
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How can I ensure that my plant is
responsive to today’s energy market?
I
n today’s volatile energy market, when
renewable power is becoming an increasingly
important part of the energy mix, many plant
operators need to be able to react rapidly to
changes in market dynamics, such as the lack
of wind or the sudden loss of capacity elsewhere
in the grid. To follow that strategy, they need
highly reliable units that can come on line as
quickly as possible.
Our substantial investment in R&D means that we’re
continually finding smarter and quicker ways of
improving the responsiveness of power plants. For
example, we can provide upgrade solutions for both
steam and gas turbines which enable faster start-up
times without compromising equipment reliability.
When a plant comes on stream more frequently and for
shorter periods, the equipment will experience greater
stress. In this environment our condition monitoring
systems play an essential role in detecting potential
problems before they occur, enabling you to take early
action to maintain plant availability.
There’s always room to raise performance
and Siemens is very committed to that
Marchwood Power Limited, a gas-fired combined
cycle power station built by Siemens, began
generating in 2009. It uses the latest technology
to ensure minimal impact on the environment and
is one of the most energy efficient power plants
in the UK.
“When you build a power station like Marchwood, you
enter a very long-term partnership,” says general
manager Richard Holman. “We can’t be successful
without Siemens, but equally we’re part of Siemens’
success. I believe this is a real partnership, based on
trust, and that’s the way we work together.”
Marchwood has sold all of its output to a third party
customer. “Our customer decides when to bid us in to
the market and we have to respond to that,” explains
Richard. “We’re paid on availability, not megawatts, so
flexibility is vital. In our first year we achieved 98%
availability, an extraordinary result.”
When there’s a change in the market, the load line in
the control room changes and Marchwood incurs a
charge if generation is a small distance from that line.
“Our operators have a target to be within 1% of the line
for 99% of the time, and they’re actually within 0.5% of
the line 99.6% of the time,” says Richard.
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“That’s a testament to the plant, which was designed
to be highly responsive. Siemens has really zoned in
on the importance of plant flexibility. It begins with
the gas turbines, which are able to start quickly and
have fast ramp-up rates, as does the auxiliary
equipment. The steam turbine is also quick to start
and stop, and the control system, which is at the
heart of the plant, is highly automated.”
But plant responsiveness is also about people says
Richard. “One year before the plant went online, we
seconded our operators to Siemens so that on the
handover day they knew the plant inside out and
were very experienced in its operation. That gave
them an invaluable understanding of the performance
of the plant.”
The two organisations continue to work very closely.
“We’re continually looking to improve every aspec of
Marchwood, and Siemens is integral to that. For
example, they’re currently surveying the plant to find
ways we can increase efficiency still further and
produce extra megawatts without major engineering.
There’s always room to raise performance levels and
Siemens is very committed to that.”
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People, passion
and performance
Our goal is simple: to help power plant operators meet the tough
challenges of today and to equip them for the future. With people who
are passionate about service and engineering excellence, we’re
helping customers in the UK and around the world to improve their
performance as well as their profitability.
❚ A global presence
❚ People that deliver
Our global service network and huge installed fleet
ensures the ready availability of parts to meet your local
needs. Our customers have the confidence of knowing
that our technology has been proven in plants around
the world and benefit from the engineering knowledge
and expertise that exists both in the UK and globally.
Our team of highly-qualified engineers, service specialists
and project managers has the depth of knowledge and
years of expertise to understand your needs, share industry
best practices and deliver safely, on time and to budget.
❚ A breadth of capability
With some customers we have a parts and labour
programme which covers inspections, parts, labour and
repair for planned outages over an agreed period of time.
With others we have long-term maintenance programmes
covering full turnkey outages and unplanned
maintenance with a performance warranty. We also
operate and maintain power plants under agreements
which guarantee plant availability, and we can provide
specialist services such as non-destructive testing, rotor
and generator balancing, electrical diagnostic testing,
condition monitoring and performance testing.
In the UK and Ireland we repair, service and upgrade
Siemens gas and steam turbines and generators as well
as those produced by other manufacturers. We also
service the fleet of Parsons steam turbines and
generators around the world, from Australia and South
Africa to Canada and Pakistan. And, at Uskmouth in
Wales, we’re responsible for operating as well as
maintaining Severn Power Station under a 16-year
contract, giving us the closest possible insight into the
challenges faced by our customers.
❚ Innovative solutions
Our major investment in research and development is
focused on innovative solutions that will reduce plant
emissions and improve performance. As well as helping
our customers to increase their environmental
efficiency, we’re helping them to generate financial
dividends too.
❚ A range of services
❚ A unique heritage
Siemens has been an energy pioneer for over 160 years.
Sir William Siemens arrived in the UK in 1843 and
achieved many notable firsts in the world of engineering.
Sir Charles Parsons patented his design for the first steam
turbine in 1884 and five years later founded a company in
Newcastle where we are still based today. Our company is
built on their shared passion for innovation and
engineering excellence.
Siemens: your power plant partner
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Siemens Energy Service
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Subject to change without prior notice.
The information in this document contains
general descriptions of the technical options
available, which may not apply in all cases.
The required technical options should therefore
be specified in the contract.