M. Vasilevsky
Today, the leading foreign power engineering companies, primarily such giants as Siemens and General Electric, are actively working on the Russian market of gas turbine equipment. By offering high-quality and durable equipment, they are a serious competitor to domestic enterprises. Nevertheless, traditional Russian manufacturers are trying to keep up with world standards.
At the end of August this year, our country became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This circumstance will inevitably lead to increased competition in the domestic market for power engineering. Here, as elsewhere, the law applies: "change or die." Without revising technologies and without deep modernization, it will be almost impossible to fight the sharks of Western engineering. In this regard, the issues related to the development of modern equipment operating as part of combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) are becoming more and more urgent.
In the past two decades, combined-cycle technology has become the most popular in the world energy sector - it accounts for up to two-thirds of all generating capacities commissioned on the planet today. This is due to the fact that in combined cycle plants the energy of the combusted fuel is used in a binary cycle - first in a gas turbine, and then in a steam turbine, and therefore a CCGT is more efficient than any thermal power plant (TPP) operating only in a steam cycle.
Currently, the only area in the thermal power industry in which Russia is critically lagging behind the world's leading manufacturers is high-capacity gas turbines - 200 MW and above. Moreover, foreign leaders not only mastered the production of gas turbines with a unit capacity of 340 MW, but also successfully tested and apply a single-shaft CCGT unit, when a 340 MW gas turbine and a 160 MW steam turbine have a common shaft. This arrangement allows to significantly reduce the time and cost of the power unit.
In March 2011, the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia adopted the "Strategy for the Development of Power Machine Building of the Russian Federation for 2010-2020 and for the Long Term until 2030", according to which this direction in the domestic power engineering industry receives solid support from the state. As a result, the Russian power engineering industry by 2016 should carry out industrial development, including full-scale tests and revision at its own test benches, improved gas turbine units (GTU) with a capacity of 65-110 and 270-350 MW and combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT units) on natural gas with an increase their coefficient of performance (COP) up to 60%.
Moreover, Russia is able to produce all the main units of CCGT units - steam turbines, boilers, turbine generators, but a modern gas turbine is not yet available. Although back in the 70s, our country was a leader in this direction, when the super-supercritical parameters of steam were mastered for the first time in the world.
In general, as a result of the implementation of the Strategy, it is assumed that the share of power unit projects using foreign main power equipment should be no more than 40% by 2015, no more than 30% by 2020, and no more than 10% by 2025. ... It is believed that otherwise there may be a dangerous dependence of the stability of the unified energy system of Russia on the supply of foreign components. During the operation of power equipment, it is regularly required to replace a number of units and parts operating at high temperatures and pressures. However, some of these components are not produced in Russia. For example, even for the domestic gas turbine GTE-110 and licensed GTE-160, some of the most important units and parts (for example, disks for rotors) are purchased only abroad.
In our market, such large and advanced concerns as Siemens and General Electric, which often win tenders for the supply of power equipment, are actively and very successfully operating. There are already several generating facilities in the Russian power system, to one degree or another equipped with the main power equipment produced by Siemens, General Electric, etc. However, their total capacity does not yet exceed 5% of the total capacity of the Russian power system.
However, many generating companies that use domestic equipment when replacing it still prefer to contact firms with which they are accustomed to working for more than a decade. This is not just a tribute to tradition, but a justified calculation - many Russian companies have carried out a technological renovation of production and are fighting on an equal footing with the world's power machine-building giants. Today we will tell you in more detail about the prospects of such large enterprises as OJSC Kaluga Turbine Plant (Kaluga), CJSC Ural Turbine Plant (Yekaterinburg), NPO Saturn (Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region), Leningrad Metal Plant (St. Petersburg), Perm Engine Building Complex (Perm Territory).
OJSC "Kaluga Turbine Works"
OJSC Kaluga Turbine Works produces steam turbines of low and medium power (up to 80 MW) for driving electric generators, drive steam turbines, block turbine generators, steam geothermal turbines, etc. (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1
The plant was founded in 1946, and four years later the first 10 turbines of its own design (OR300) were produced. To date, the plant has produced more than 2,640 power plants with a total capacity of 17091 MW for energy facilities in Russia, the CIS countries and far abroad.
Today the enterprise is a part of the Power Machines concern. One of the practical results of the affiliation was the introduction, since January 2012, of an information solution SAP ERP based on an operating prototype successfully used at Power Machines, instead of the Baan system previously used at KTZ. The information system being created will allow the enterprise to reach a new level of production automation, modernize its business processes based on the best practices of the world leaders in the engineering industry, and improve the accuracy and efficiency of management decisions.
The plant's products are in stable demand in Russia and abroad. The enterprise has a large portfolio of orders for gas turbine and steam turbine equipment. In 2011, two T-60/73 steam turbines were manufactured for Ufimskaya CHPP No. 5 and presented to the Customer - the most powerful units produced by JSC KTZ to date. One of the latest projects can be called a contract with OJSC Energy Construction Corporation Soyuz, under which KTZ manufactured two steam turbines for the branch of OJSC Ilim Group in Bratsk (Irkutsk Region), intended for the reconstruction of the turbine department of TPP-3 ... Under the terms of the contract, two back pressure turbines - R-27-8.8 / 1.35 with a capacity of 27 MW and R-32-8.8 / 0.65 with a capacity of 32 MW - were delivered this summer.
In recent years, unconventional energy sources, including geothermal steam, have been increasingly used in the world. Geothermal power plants (GeoPPs) can be called one of the cheapest and most reliable sources of electricity, since they do not depend on delivery conditions and fuel prices. The initiator of the development of geothermal energy in Russia in recent years was the company "Geotherm". Kaluga Turbine Works OJSC acted as the basic enterprise for the supply of power plants for the orders of this company. The appeal to KTZ was not accidental, since the enterprise practically solved one of the main problems of geothermal turbines - operation on wet steam. This problem boils down to the need to protect the last-stage rotor blades from erosion. A common method of protection is the installation of special pads made of erosion-resistant materials. To protect against erosion, KTZ uses a method based on combating not with the consequence, but with the very cause of erosion - with coarse moisture.
In 1999, the Verkhne-Mutnovskaya GeoPP in Kamchatka with a capacity of 12 MW was put into operation - all the equipment of power units for the station was supplied from Kaluga under a contract with Geotherm. Almost all turbine plants supplied for geothermal power plants in Russia (Pauzhetskaya, Yuzhno-Kurilskaya on Kushashir Island, Verkhne-Mutnovskaya, Mutnovskaya GeoPPs) were manufactured by the Kaluga Turbine Plant. To date, the company has accumulated extensive experience in creating geothermal turbine plants of any standard size from 0.5 to 50 MW. Today Kaluga Turbine Works OJSC is the most qualified turbine plant in Russia in geothermal field.
CJSC UTZ (Ural Turbine Works)
The enterprise is historically located in Yekaterinburg and is part of the Renova group of companies. The first AT-12 steam turbine with a capacity of 12 thousand kW was assembled and tested by the Ural turbine builders in May 1941. Despite the fact that it was the first UTZ turbine, it worked reliably for 48 years.
Now the Ural Turbine Works is one of the leading machine-building enterprises in Russia for the design and production of steam heating turbines of medium and high power, condensing turbines, back pressure steam turbines, crumpled steam turbines, gas pumping units, power gas turbine units, etc. Turbines manufactured by UTZ, make up about 50% of all heating turbines operating in Russia and the CIS. For more than 70 years of operation, the plant has supplied 861 steam turbines with a total capacity of 60 thousand MW to power plants in various countries.
The enterprise has developed a whole family of steam turbines for steam power plants of various types. In addition, UTW specialists are developing and preparing for the production of turbines for combined cycle plants - options for combined cycle plants with a capacity of 95-450 MW have been worked out. For installations with a capacity of 90-100 MW, a single-cylinder steam cogeneration turbine T-35 / 47-7.4 is proposed. For a two-circuit combined cycle plant with a capacity of 170-230 MW, it is proposed to use a heating steam turbine T-53 / 67-8.0, which, while maintaining the design and depending on the steam parameters, can be marked from T-45 / 60-7.2 to T- 55 / 70-8.2. On the basis of this turbine, the plant can produce condensing steam turbines with a capacity of 60-70 MW.
According to Denis Chichagin, First Deputy General Director of UTW CJSC, domestic machine-tool and mechanical engineering at the moment does not reach the world level. To modernize enterprises, high-tech equipment needs to be given the green light, so the company is currently changing its technology policy. In close cooperation with specialists from ROTEK CJSC and Sulzer (Switzerland), the plant is modernizing management and technological schemes for the successful development and adaptation of foreign advanced technologies, which will significantly strengthen the company's position in the market. The company continues to develop optimal design solutions for the main turbine equipment, while the customer is offered modern service solutions, including those based on long-term post-warranty service of steam and gas turbines. In 2009-2011. the plant has invested more than RUB 500 million in technical re-equipment programs. to ensure the existing portfolio of orders and reach the design capacity of producing 1.8 GW of turbine equipment per year. In February 2012, within the framework of this program, UTW acquired high-performance metalworking equipment for the production of turbine blades - two 5-axis CNC machining centers MILL-800 SK with a rotary spindle (Fig. 2) from Chiron-Werke GmbH & Co KG (Germany )
Fig. 2
The specialized software supplied with the equipment allows to reduce the machine time by up to 20-30% compared to universal CAM systems. The installation and adjustment of new machines was carried out by Chiron specialists. Within the framework of the contract, the teleservice was tested - remote diagnostics of machine tools, prevention or correction of errors and accidents. Through a secure dedicated channel, Chiron service engineers record the operation of the equipment online and issue recommendations for the production of UTZ.
Turbine equipment manufactured by UTW consistently finds customers even in the face of fierce competition from foreign manufacturers. At the end of February 2012, the Ural Turbine Works manufactured a new steam turbine with a capacity of 65 MW for the Barnaul CHPP-2 of OJSC Kuzbassenergo. The new turbine Т-60 / 65-130-2М st.number 8 has been successfully tested on a barring device at the assembly stand of UTZ. The test report was signed by the customer's representatives without comment. The new equipment is installed to replace the exhausted and decommissioned T-55-130 turbine, also produced at the Ural Turbine Plant. It should be noted that the two-cylinder turbine T-60 / 65-130-2M is a serial model produced by JSC UTZ - a continuation of the serial line of steam turbines T-55 and T-50, which have proven themselves well over many years of operation at thermal power plants in Russia and the CIS. The new turbines use modern units and modified elements that increase the technical and economic performance of the turbine unit (Fig. 3).
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Fig. 3
UTZ supplied a similar turbine for the Abakan CHPP (Khakassia). The turbine will be the basis of the new power unit of the Abakan CHPP: with its launch, the total capacity of the station should increase to 390 MW. The commissioning of the new power unit will increase electricity generation by 700-900 million kWh per year and significantly increase the reliability of power supply to the region. Commissioning of the unit is planned at the end of next year. The turbine is equipped with two PSG-2300 heating water heaters and a KG-6200 condenser group, as well as a TVF-125-2U3 turbine generator with hydrogen cooling produced by NPO ElSib.
Recently, a new single-cylinder steam turbine T-50 / 60-8.8, manufactured for the Petropavlovskaya CHPP-2 (SevKazEnergo JSC), has been successfully tested at the UTW assembly stand. The new Ural-made turbine is to replace the previously operating two-cylinder Czech turbine P-33-90 / 1.3 manufactured by Skoda, and will be mounted on the same foundation. The turbine replacement project was prepared by the Institute of JSC "KazNIPIEnergoprom", with which CJSC "UTW" has long and fruitful cooperation. Long-standing ties with the former Soviet republics are not weakening: for example, at the moment, the issue of supplying several Ural turbines for the thermal power plants of Kazakhstan is at the stage of negotiations.
NPO Saturn
NPO Saturn is a developer and manufacturer of industrial gas turbine equipment of small, medium and large power for use in thermal power plants, industrial enterprises and oil and gas fields. This is one of the oldest industrial enterprises in Russia: in 1916, it was decided to create five automobile plants on the basis of a state loan, including in Rybinsk (JSC Russian Renault). In the post-revolutionary years, the plant worked on the development and production of aircraft engines. In the early 90s. The Rybinsk Motors Plant was reorganized into Rybinsk Motors OJSC. In 2001, after its merger with the Rybinsk Motor Design Bureau (A. Lyulka-Saturn OJSC), the company received its modern name and began to produce gas turbines for the energy and gas industries. In the product line, first of all, it is necessary to name the industrial gas twin-shaft turbines GTD-6RM and GTD-8RM, used to drive electric generators as part of the GTA-6 / 8RM gas turbine units, which are used in gas turbine thermal power plants of medium power (from 6 to 64 MW and above) ... The company also produces a family of unified gas turbines GTD-4 / 6,3 / 10RM for use in gas-pumping units and thermal power plants (from 4 MW and above). For power plants of low power (from 2.5 MW and above), the DO49R unit is produced - a single-shaft gas turbine with an integrated coaxial gearbox. In addition to "onshore" units, the company manufactures marine gas turbines M75RU, M70FRU, E70 / 8RD, used to drive electric generators and gas compressors in marine and coastal industrial facilities of small and medium power (from 4 MW and above).
In 2003, interdepartmental tests of the GTD-110 unit, the first Russian gas turbine with a capacity of over 100 MW, were carried out (Fig. 4).
Fig. 4
GTD-110 is a single-shaft gas turbine for use in power and combined cycle plants of high power (from 110 to 495 MW and above), created under the Federal Target Program "Fuel and Energy" for the needs of the domestic energy system and is so far the only Russian development in in the field of high-power gas turbine engineering. Currently, five GTD-110 are in operation at Gazpromenergoholding (GEH) and Inter RAO. However, according to the specialists of Inter RAO, only the newest unit, which was launched in early March, is operating normally. The rest are currently unstable and are serviced under the manufacturer's warranty.
According to Alexander Ivanov, Director for Gas Turbine and Power Plants at NPO Saturn, as in the case of any new high-tech product, this is a completely natural process when defects are identified and the company is actively working to eliminate them. During maintenance, the most critical components are checked and, if necessary, the manufacturer replaces parts at his own expense without stopping the turbine.
Recently, OJSC Engineering Center Gas Turbine Technologies (OJSC NPO Saturn jointly with OJSC INTER RAO UES) won the OJSC RUSNANO competition to create an engineering center that will deal with innovative products, in particular, the creation of GTD-110M (Fig. 5), an upgraded gas turbine engine GTD-110 with a capacity of 110 MW.
Fig. 5
In fact, the new engineering center will bring the technical and economic characteristics of the GTD-110 up to the best world models in this power class; the engine will be improved and refined, it is planned to create a combustion chamber providing an admissible level of harmful NOx emissions of 50 mg / m3. In addition, it is planned to use nanostructured coating technologies in the production of the engine, which will increase the reliability of the hot part of the turbine, increase the resource of the most worn parts and the entire engine as a whole. GTD-110M will become the basis for the creation of Russian CCGT units of high power. All complex work on the GTD-110M project is designed for 2-3 years.
JSC "Leningrad Metal Plant"
The Leningrad Metal Plant is a unique enterprise. The plant has been counting its history since 1857, when the personal decree of Emperor Alexander II "On the establishment of the Joint Stock Company" St. Petersburg Metal Plant "on the basis of the Charter" was issued. The production of steam turbines began here in 1907, hydraulic turbines in 1924, and gas turbines in 1956. To date, LMZ has manufactured more than 2,700 steam and over 780 hydraulic turbines. Today it is one of the largest power machine-building enterprises in Russia, which is part of OJSC Power Machines, which designs, manufactures and maintains a wide range of steam and hydraulic turbines of various capacities. Among the recent developments of the plant is the gas turbine unit GTE-65 with a capacity of 65 MW. It is a single-shaft unit designed to drive a turbine generator and capable of carrying base, half-peak and peak loads both independently and as part of a combined cycle unit. The GTE-65 gas turbine unit can be used in various types of steam-gas units for the modernization of existing and construction of new condensing and heating power plants. In terms of price and technical characteristics, the GTE-65 as a medium-power machine meets the capabilities and needs of domestic power plants and power systems.
In the early 2000s. LMZ OJSC signed an agreement with Siemens for the right to manufacture and sell a 160 MW gas turbine unit GTE-160 in the Russian Federation and Belarus (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6
The prototype of the plant is a Siemens V94.2 gas turbine, the documentation of which has been changed taking into account the capabilities of LMZ and its partners. It is precisely such a turbine, manufactured at JSC Leningradsky Metal Works, within the framework of a contract between JSC KES and JSC Power Machines, which was delivered last summer to Permskaya TPP-9.
Cooperation with German turbine builders continues. In December 2011, Power Machines and Siemens signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Russia for the production and maintenance of gas turbines Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies. This project was carried out on the basis of Interturbo LLC, which has been a joint venture of partners since 1991. The new company is engaged in research and development of new gas turbines, localization of production in Russia, assembly, sale, project management and service of high-power class E gas turbines and F with a capacity of 168 to 292 MW. This area of \u200b\u200bactivity of Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies is linked to the requirement of the Strategy for the Development of Power Machine Building of the Russian Federation for 2010-2020 and for the future until 2030. to organize in the near future at the Leningrad Metal Plant large-scale production of licensed high-power gas turbines (about 300 MW) with the transition from the GTE-160 (V94.2) developed by Siemens in the 80s. to more modern gas turbines.
On October 24, OOO Russian Gas Turbines, a joint venture between General Electric, Inter RAO Group and OAO United Engine Corporation, opened a plant for the production, sale and maintenance of 6FA (6F.03) gas turbines in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region.
The first two units, intended for delivery to the enterprises of OJSC NK Rosneft, will be assembled in 2015. The maximum production capacity of the enterprise will be up to 20 gas turbine units per year, which will meet the demand for highly efficient power units for combined heat and power projects.
General Electric owns a 50% stake in the Russian Gas Turbines project, Inter RAO Group - and UEC - 25% each.
The participants' investments in the creation and development of production are 5 billion rubles.
2. And they say that nothing is produced in Russia. Even the sanctions did not affect this project. 
3. Officials arrived to familiarize themselves with the enterprise and start production. 
4. They took a tour of the enterprise. 
5. Official opening on an impromptu stage in the workshop of the plant. 
6. Director General of Russian Gas Turbines LLC Nadezhda Izotova. She stated that she expects to bring the localization of domestic components to 50% within five years, and Ron Pollett added that, possibly, up to 80%. It follows from this that soon the turbines will consist of 80% of Russian materials, which implies the creation of new jobs and enterprises in Russia. 
7. Nadezhda Izotova, Chairman of the Board of JSC "Inter RAO" Boris Kovalchuk, President and CEO of GE in Russia Ron Pollett. 
8. Governor of the Yaroslavl Region Sergey Yastrebov. 
9. The production of the 6FA gas turbine in Russia is a unique example of cooperation in the field of advanced technologies in power engineering. 
10. The 6FA turbine is a high-tech product with a combined cycle efficiency of over 55%. 
11. The 6FA turbine is distinguished by high reliability, compactness, the ability to operate on various types of fuel, including in severe climatic conditions, which leads to the widespread use of 6FA in power generation, district heating and industrial cogeneration. 
12. Thanks to Russian Gas Turbines, Rybinsk, the second largest city in the Yaroslavl Region, is becoming a world-class gas turbine building center. 
13. The construction of the plant opens up great prospects for the development of the region. The Rybinsk Aviation Technical Academy will be the supplier of personnel for the Russian Gas Turbines. The staff of the enterprise will be about 150 people, 60 of them have already started work. GE donated expensive student training equipment to the university, which can be used to model turbines in detail and make more accurate calculations. 
14. Truck fleet. 
15. Assembly shop of the plant. 
16. The opening of the plant will contribute to the creation of new jobs, increase the prestige of the engineering profession. 
17. At the initial stage, the annual production will be 14 units. The plant has already started assembling the first turbine. 
The difficult international situation is forcing Russia to speed up import substitution programs, especially in strategic sectors. In particular, in order to overcome the dependence on imports in the energy sector, the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation are developing measures to support domestic turbine construction. Are Russian manufacturers, including the only specialized plant in the Ural Federal District, ready to meet the growing demand for new turbines, the RG correspondent found out.
A turbine manufactured by UTZ is operating at the new CHPP "Akademicheskaya" in Yekaterinburg as part of the CCGT unit. Photo: Tatiana Andreeva / RG
Pavel Zavalny, Chairman of the State Duma Energy Committee, notes two main problems of the energy industry - its technological backwardness and a high percentage of wear and tear of the existing main equipment.
According to the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, over 60 percent of power equipment in Russia, in particular turbines, has developed its park resource. In the Ural Federal District, in the Sverdlovsk Region, there are more than 70 percent of such, however, after the commissioning of new capacities, this percentage slightly decreased, but still there is a lot of old equipment and it needs to be replaced. After all, energy is not just one of the basic industries, the responsibility is too high here: imagine what will happen if you turn off the light and heat in winter, ”says Yuri Brodov, head of the Turbines and Engines Department of the Ural Energy Institute of UrFU.
According to Zavalny, the fuel utilization ratio at Russian CHPPs is slightly above 50 percent, while the share of CCGT units considered to be the most efficient is less than 15 percent. It should be noted that the CCGT unit was commissioned in Russia in the last decade - exclusively on the basis of imported equipment. The situation with Siemens' arbitration claim regarding the alleged illegal supply of their equipment to the Crimea showed what a trap it was. But it is unlikely that it will be possible to solve the problem of import substitution quickly.
The fact is that while domestic steam turbines have been competitive enough since the times of the USSR, the situation with gas turbines is much worse.
When the Turbomotor Plant (TMZ) in the late 1970s and early 1980s was tasked with creating a 25 megawatt power gas turbine, it took 10 years (three samples were made, requiring further refinement). The last turbine was decommissioned in December 2012. In 1991, the development of an energy gas turbine began in Ukraine; in 2001, RAO "UES of Russia" somewhat prematurely made a decision to organize serial production of the turbine at the site of the "Saturn" company. But the creation of a competitive machine is still a long way off, ”says Valery Neuymin, Candidate of Technical Sciences, who previously worked as Deputy Chief Engineer of TMZ for new equipment, in 2004-2005 - the developer of the concept of technical policy of RAO UES of Russia.
Engineers are able to reproduce previously developed products, there is no talk of creating a fundamentally new speech
This is not only about the Ural Turbine Works (UTZ is the successor of TMZ. - Ed.), But also about other Russian manufacturers. Some time ago, at the state level, it was decided to buy gas turbines abroad, mainly in Germany. Then the factories curtailed the development of new gas turbines, for the most part switched to the manufacture of spare parts for them, says Yuri Brodov. - But now the country has set a task to revive the domestic gas turbine building, because it is impossible to depend on Western suppliers in such a responsible industry.
In recent years, the same UTZ has been actively involved in the construction of steam-gas units - it supplies steam turbines for them. But together with them, gas turbines of foreign production are installed - Siemens, General Electric, Alstom, Mitsubishi.
Today in Russia there are two and a half hundred imported gas turbines - according to the Ministry of Energy, 63 percent of the total. To modernize the industry, about 300 new machines are required, and by 2035, twice as many. Therefore, the task was set to create worthy domestic developments and put production on stream. First of all, the problem is in high-power gas turbine plants - they simply do not exist, and attempts to create them have so far been unsuccessful. So, the other day the media reported that during the tests in December 2017, the last sample of the GTE-110 collapsed (GTD-110M - a joint development of Rusnano, Rostec and InterRAO).
The state has high hopes for the Leningrad Metal Works (Power Machines), the largest manufacturer of steam and hydraulic turbines, which also has a joint venture with Siemens to produce gas turbines. However, as Valery Neuymin notes, if initially our side in this joint venture had 60 percent of the shares, and the Germans had 40, today the ratio is reversed - 35 and 65.
The German company is not interested in the development of competitive equipment by Russia - this is evidenced by the years of joint work, - Neuimin expresses doubts about the effectiveness of such a partnership.
In his opinion, in order to create its own production of gas turbines, the state must support at least two enterprises in the Russian Federation so that they compete with each other. And it is not necessary to develop a machine of high power right away - it is better to first bring to mind a small turbine, say, with a capacity of 65 megawatts, work out the technology, as they say, fill your hand and then move on to a more serious model. Otherwise, the money will be thrown into the wind: "It's like instructing an unknown company to develop a spacecraft, because a gas turbine is by no means a simple thing," the expert states.
As for the production of other types of turbines in Russia, not everything is smooth here either. At first glance, the capacities are quite large: today, only UTZ, as the company informed RG, is capable of producing power equipment with a total capacity of up to 2.5 gigawatts per year. However, it is possible to call the machines produced by Russian factories new rather conditionally: for example, the T-295 turbine, designed to replace the T-250 designed in 1967, does not fundamentally differ from its predecessor, although a number of innovations have been introduced into it.
Today, turbine designers are mainly engaged in "buttons for a suit," says Valery Neuymin. - In fact, now there are people at the factories who are still able to reproduce previously developed products, but there is no talk of creating a fundamentally new technology. This is a natural result of perestroika and the dashing 90s, when industrialists had to think about just surviving. For the sake of fairness, we note: Soviet steam turbines were extremely reliable, the multiple safety factor allowed the power plants to operate for several decades without replacing equipment and without serious accidents. According to Valery Neuymin, modern steam turbines for thermal power plants have reached the limit of their efficiency, and the introduction of any innovations in existing designs will not dramatically improve this figure. And so far, one cannot count on a quick breakthrough by Russia in gas turbine construction.
Russia has found a way to bypass Western sanctions for the sake of the most important state task - the construction of Crimean power plants. The turbines necessary for the operation of the stations, produced by the German company Siemens, were delivered to the peninsula. However, how did it happen that our country was unable to develop such equipment itself?
Russia has supplied two of the four gas turbines to Crimea for use at the Sevastopol power plant, Reuters reported yesterday, citing sources. According to them, SGT5-2000E turbines of the German concern Siemens were delivered to the port of Sevastopol.
Russia is building two 940 megawatt power plants in Crimea, and earlier supplies of Siemens turbines to them were frozen due to Western sanctions. However, apparently, a solution was found: these turbines were supplied by some third-party companies, and not by Siemens itself.
Russian companies serially produce only turbines for small power plants. For example, the capacity of the GTE-25P gas turbine is 25 MW. But modern power plants reach a capacity of 400-450 MW (as in the Crimea), and they need more powerful turbines - 160-290 MW. The turbine delivered to Sevastopol has just the required capacity of 168 MW. Russia is forced to find ways to circumvent Western sanctions in order to fulfill the program to ensure the energy security of the Crimean Peninsula.
How did it happen that there are no technologies and sites for the production of high-power gas turbines in Russia?
After the collapse of the USSR in the 90s and early 2000s, the Russian power engineering industry found itself on the brink of survival. But then a massive program for the construction of power plants began, that is, there was a demand for the products of Russian machine-building plants. But instead of creating our own product in Russia, a different path was chosen - and, at first glance, very logical. Why reinvent the wheel, spend a lot of time and money on development, research and production, if you can buy modern and ready-made products abroad.
“In the 2000s, we built gas turbine power plants with GE and Siemens turbines. Thus, they put our already poor energy sector on the needle of Western companies. Now huge money is being paid for the maintenance of foreign turbines. An hour of work for a Siemens service engineer costs the same as the monthly salary of a locksmith in this power plant. In the 2000s, it was not necessary to build gas turbine power plants, but to modernize our main generating capacities, ”says Maxim Muratshin, General Director of the Powerz engineering company.
“I am engaged in production, and I was always offended when the top management used to say that we would buy everything abroad, because ours did not know how to do anything. Now everyone is awake, but the time is lost. There is no longer such a demand to create a new turbine to replace the Siemens one. But at that time it was possible to create your own high-power turbine and sell it to 30 gas turbine power plants. This is what the Germans would have done. And the Russians just bought these 30 turbines from foreigners, ”the source adds.
Now the main problem in power engineering is the deterioration of machinery and equipment in the absence of high demand. More precisely, there is a demand from power plants, which urgently need to replace outdated equipment. However, they have no money for this.
“The power plants do not have enough money to carry out a large-scale modernization in the face of a tight tariff policy regulated by the state. Power plants cannot sell electricity at a price that would allow them to cash in on quick upgrades. We have very cheap electricity compared to Western countries, ”says Muratshin.
Therefore, the situation in the energy industry cannot be called rosy. For example, at one time the largest boiler plant in the Soviet Union, Krasny Kotelshchik (part of Power Machines), at its peak produced 40 high-capacity boilers per year, and now - only one or two per year. “There is no demand, and the capacities that were in the Soviet Union have been lost. But we still have the basic technologies, so within two to three years our factories can again produce 40-50 boilers a year. It's a matter of time and money. But here they drag it to the last, and then they want to do everything quickly in two days, ”Muratshin worries.
The demand for gas turbines is even more difficult because generating electricity from gas boilers is expensive. Nobody in the world builds its energy sector only on this type of generation, as a rule, there is the main generating capacity, and gas turbine power plants supplement it. The advantage of gas turbine stations is that they quickly connect and provide energy to the grid, which is important during peak periods of consumption (morning and evening). Whereas, for example, steam or coal boilers require several hours to cook. “In addition, there is no coal in Crimea, but it has its own gas, plus they are pulling a gas pipeline from the Russian mainland,” Muratshin explains the logic according to which a gas-fired power plant was chosen for Crimea.
But there is one more reason why Russia bought German rather than domestic turbines for the power plants under construction in Crimea. The development of domestic analogues is already underway. We are talking about the GTD-110M gas turbine, which is being modernized and refined at the United Engine Corporation together with Inter RAO and Rusnano. This turbine was developed in the 90s and 2000s, it was even used at the Ivanovskaya GRES and Ryazanskaya GRES in the late 2000s. However, the product ended up with many "childhood illnesses". Actually, now NPO Saturn is engaged in their treatment.
And since the project of the Crimean power plants is extremely important from many points of view, apparently, for the sake of reliability, it was decided not to use a raw domestic turbine for it. The UEC explained that they would not have time to finalize their turbine before the construction of stations in Crimea began. By the end of this year, only a prototype of the modernized GTD-110M will be created. While the launch of the first blocks of two thermal power plants in Simferopol and Sevastopol is promised by the beginning of 2018.
However, if not for the sanctions, then there would be no serious problems with turbines for Crimea. Moreover, even Siemens turbines are not purely imported products. Aleksey Kalachev from Finam Investment Company notes that turbines for Crimean CHPPs could be produced in Russia, at the St. Petersburg plant Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies.
“Of course, this is a subsidiary of Siemens, and probably some part of the components is supplied for assembly from European factories. Still, this is a joint venture, and production is localized on Russian territory and to meet Russian needs, ”says Kalachev. That is, Russia not only buys foreign turbines, but also forced foreigners to invest in production on Russian territory. According to Kalachev, it is precisely the creation of a joint venture in Russia with foreign partners that makes it possible to overcome the technological gap most quickly and efficiently.
“Without the participation of foreign partners, the creation of independent and completely independent technologies and technological platforms is theoretically possible, but it will take considerable time and money,” the expert explains. Moreover, money is needed not only for the modernization of production, but also for personnel training, R&D, engineering schools, etc. By the way, it took Siemens as much as 10 years to create the SGT5-8000H turbine.
The real origin of the turbines supplied to Crimea turned out to be quite understandable. As stated by the Technopromexport company, four sets of turbines for power facilities in Crimea were purchased on the secondary market. And he, as you know, is not subject to sanctions.
A gloating article appeared in the Western press that the construction of new power plants in Crimea actually stopped due to Western sanctions - after all, we seemed to have forgotten how to make turbines for power plants ourselves and went to bow to Western companies, which are now forced to wind down their deliveries and thus leave Russia without turbines for energy.
"The project envisaged that the power plants will be equipped with turbines manufactured by Siemens. However, in this case, this German engineering company risks violating the sanctions regime. Sources say that in the absence of turbines, the project faces serious delays. Officials Siemens have always said that they do not intend to implement supply of equipment.
Russia studied the possibility of acquiring turbines from Iran, making changes to the design for the installation of Russian-made turbines, as well as using Western turbines previously acquired by Russia and already located on its territory. Each of these alternatives poses specific challenges, which, according to sources, prevents officials and project leaders from agreeing on how to move forward.
This story demonstrates that, despite official denials, Western sanctions still have a real negative impact on the Russian economy. It also sheds light on the decision-making mechanism under Vladimir Putin. It is about the propensity of high-ranking officials, according to sources close to the Kremlin, to make grandiose political promises that are almost impossible to implement. "
"Back in October 2016, the company representatives at a briefing in Munich said that Siemens excludes the use of its gas turbines at TPPs in Crimea. We are talking about gas turbines that are produced in Russia at the Siemens gas turbine technology plant in St. Petersburg, which was put into operation in 2015. The shares in this company are distributed as follows: Siemens - 65%, Power Machines - beneficiary A. Mordashov - 35%. The plant is to supply Technopromexport with 4 combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) with a capacity of 235 MW with gas turbines in 160 MW, and in the contract signed in the spring of 2016 the TPP in Taman is indicated. "
In fact, it so happened that since the times of the USSR, the production of gas turbine plants for power plants was concentrated at 3 enterprises - in the then Leningrad, as well as in Nikolaev and Kharkov. Accordingly, during the collapse of the USSR, Russia was left with only one such plant - LMZ. Since 2001, this plant has been manufacturing Siemens turbines under license.
“It all started in 1991, when a joint venture was created - then LMZ and Siemens - to assemble gas turbines. An agreement was signed on the transfer of technologies to the then Leningrad Metal Plant, which is now part of OJSC Power Machines. The joint venture has assembled 19 turbines in 10 years.Over these years, LMZ has accumulated production experience in order to learn not only to assemble these turbines, but also to manufacture some components on their own. Based on this experience, in 2001, a license agreement was concluded with Siemens for the right to manufacture, sell and after-sales service of turbines of the same type. They received the Russian marking GTE-160 ".
It is not clear where their developments, which were successfully produced there during the previous 40 years, have gone. As a result, the domestic power engineering industry (gas turbine engineering) was left behind. Now I have to begging abroad in search of turbines. Even in Iran.
"Rostec Corporation has reached an agreement with the Iranian company Mapna, which produces German gas turbines under Siemens license. Thus, gas turbines manufactured in Iran according to drawings of German Siemens can be installed on new power plants in Crimea."