Modernization & Upgrades for Turbogenerators

Our comprehensive generator and exciter services and solutions power your success!

With our comprehensive portfolio of reliable Siemens Energy generator service products, we can provide you with solutions that are tailor-made to your specific needs. By analyzing the individual operation and maintenance history of your turboset, our experts can customize concepts to help increase reliability, availability and flexibility. Those benefits are the key to success of improving your competitiveness and achieving maximum performance of your generator. We assist you with our unique services for generators, exciters and auxiliaries as well as with inspections and maintenance. Furthermore, with our digital service portfolio we can equip your plant with reliable on-line monitoring systems, predictive maintenance and digital data analysis for generators and high-voltage equipment. By choosing Siemens Energy generator services and solutions, you benefit from decades of experience and technical expertise.

Generator Modernizations

In the current state of the energy market utility operators are in need of generators with resilience to meet the demands of generator operational flexibility.

Siemens Energy generators have demonstrated a long service life, however the life of the generator is subject to normal aging processes which can manifest differently depending on the generator model and operational mode.

In today’s operating grid demands, normal aging processes can be exacerbated and accelerated by changes in operating modes, with many startup and shutdowns, frequent turning gear operation in standby mode and fast load changes in the part load range, which can apply greater stress to the individual generator components.

Comprehensive generator modernization solutions can be offered by Siemens Energy and are described in the following:

Generator Replacement

Complete replacement is in some cases the more cost-effective alternative. A detailed cost/benefit analysis can help you decide if and when an investment in a new generator is economically beneficial compared to maintenance and service expenditures for the current generator. Siemens Energy can provide a matching generator for almost all generator types and configurations.

Specifically designed to replace smaller hydrogen- or water-cooled generator, the air-cooled Footprint™ generator is an easy to implement solution in which the existing foundations and interfaces can be used wherever possible.

Detailed information about our Footprint™ concept

Generator Uprates

When the power output of the turbine is increased, the generator capability needs to be adapted accordingly. Using specifically developed analysis measures, our Siemens Energy experts can quickly assess various options for uprating your generator and provide an individual proposal.

Siemens Energy can offer the following measures for uprating your generator:

  • Rotor, stator and exciter upgrades with enhanced design for increased rating
  • Reducing cold gas temperature in generators with closed air-cooled systems
  • Increase of hydrogen pressure for gas-cooled generators
  • Uprate of air-cooled generators

Implementation of a Synchronous Condenser Solution

The continuously growing renewables share as well as volatile grids can have a significant impact on the synchronous condenser power production equipment and also on the transmission system operation. The consequences can be multifaceted. Remaining fossil units may be highly cycled and the energy flow in the transmission system complex. At the same time, the stability of a converter dominated transmission system is challenging. The frequency and voltage control as well as fault ride through capability can require installation of new additional equipment for stable and safe grid operation.

A synchronous condenser is a turbo generator without turbines, connected to the grid via unit transformer, that can be implemented by one of the following options:

  1. Conversion of existing generators to a synchronous condenser
  2. New generators for synchronous condenser applications

In power plants with several turbine generator sets, the implementation of an additional generator in synchronous condenser operation may represent the most cost-effective solution for increasing the plant output. The power factor in the existing generators is adjusted to produce more or even exclusive active power (MW). The missing reactive power fraction (MVAr) is to be compensated by the synchronous generator which is operated as a motor at zero load. The effort associated with the installation of an additional generator in the power plant architecture can be compensated for by the following advantages:

  • Eliminates need for extensive technical changes to the existing generator
  • Higher flexibility with regard to the provision of reactive power
  • Use of an additional generator in power plants with several generators of the same type as a “productive reserve”, e.g. in the event of damage to a generator

Find further information about our portfolio of generators for synchronous condenser applications:

Generators portfolio

Leverage the Profitability of your Plant

With any modernization it is important to verify that all of the measures in the power plant are coordinated. Siemens Energy provides project management and can coordinate and harmonize the various scopes of supply and services. Additionally to generator modernizations, Siemens Energy is the right partner to provide comprehensive plant service solutions for high-voltage equipment, transformers, isolated phase bus ducts as well as excitation equipment (AVR).

Your overall benefits can include:

Reliability Increase

Availability Increase

Power Increase

Condition-based Maintenance

Efficiency Increase

Increased Lifetime

Generator Online Monitoring - installations worldwide

Currently there are more than 207 units installed with Generator Online Monitoring, and more than 500 additional sensor/measurement installation points.

as of July 2018

Technical Papers