Steam power plants

Electricity suppliers worldwide are facing tremendous challenges. They must reliably meet an ever-increasing energy demand, flexibly respond to load changes at all times and keep grids stable, while at the same time supplying electricity at the lowest possible price. By 2030, about one-third of the world’s total power generation will come from renewable energy sources, but coal-fired power plants will still cover approximately the same percentage of the global energy demand. Today’s market perspective shows that for some more decades coal-fired power plants are predicted to remain a significant contributor to the future power supply mix in various countries to meet our energy demand. Steam 4.0 stands for a power supply with highest efficiency, lowest emissions. How do we achieve that? 

Efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions undertaken in the past have focused on large, state-of-the-art steam power plants in the higher output classes. As a result, measures aimed at increasing efficiency and flexibility were developed for large units. Going forward, the good experiences gained from existing high-end ultra-super critical (USC) coal-fired power plants needs to be transferred to power plants of the 350-MW size. Innovative products are needed to serve this market segment in the most beneficial way for power plant owners. Siemens has modified its core components to address these new requirements while bringing added value to our customers. Siemens demonstrates how technology for (U)SC applications in larger units is successfully introduced in to smaller turbines originally designed for subcritical applications.