Merged super-group to provide all offshore power requirements
Lynne Anderson
Demag Delaval
Industrial
Turbomachinery
Last August, Siemens completed the acquisition of the industrial turbine business of the French company Alstom, having received the unconditional approval of both the EU Commission and the US Department of Justice.
Three months earlier, the Siemens Power Generation Group (PG) had already acquired Alstom's small gas turbine business (3-15 MW) based in Lincoln, UK. The second transaction covered the medium gas turbine business (15-50 MW) in Finspong, Sweden, and industrial steam turbines rated up to 100 MW with locations in countries including Sweden, Germany, and the Czech Republic. The activities acquired from Alstom are currently being held by and are trading as subsidiaries of Demag Delaval Industrial Turbomachinery NV, a Siemens company based in Hengelo, the Netherlands, until being finally integrated into Siemens AG.
The purchase was a strategic one for Siemens PG, providing the industrial gas turbines previously missing from its product range, as well as strengthening its steam turbine portfolio. The Power Generation Industrial Applications Division can now supply the ingredients for tailor-made oil and gas or power plant customer solutions, all from under one roof.
null
For the 2,000-strong unit in Finspong, this is – almost – the last in a series of ownership changes during the last 20 years. Demag Delaval Industrial Turbomachinery AB is a stop-gap name until it becomes truly part of the Siemens group, but it also reflects part of the history of the company. "Delaval" stems from Gustaf de Laval, 1845-1913, the inventor and father of the impulse steam turbine. The manufacturing works that he founded in Stockholm in 1890 later split into two branches – one culminated in the company which is now Demag Delaval Industrial Turbomachinery AB in Finspong, the other led via Mannesmann Demag to the birth in 1999 of Siemens in Erlangen, Germany. After over a century, the two branches have now merged.
The Ljungström Swedish Turbine Co. (STAL or Svenska Turbin-fabriks Aktiebolaget Ljungström), was established in Finspong in 1913, enjoying a long and peaceful era of steam turbine production. The company continued to expand and, after World War II, also started manufacturing gas turbines, today the mainstay of the unit. The acronym STAL was a component of the company name for many generations, under a number of different owners, figuring successively as STAL-LAVAL, ASEA STAL, and ABB STAL.
The products have also continued to develop as their markets and associated demands have changed. Today Finspong supplies two steam turbine models in various configurations, the single-casing ST5 (in which elements of the former ATP4 can be recognized) and the dual-casing ST6 (based on the former VAX models). In the new organization, Finspong has global responsibility for combined cycle and reheat applications for steam turbines over 60 MW. The gas turbine range covers the mid-range span from 17 to 45 MW, from the 17 MWGT35C, through the 25 MW GT10B and the 30 MW GT10C up to the 45 MW GTX100, and main markets are industry, power generation, and co-generation, as well as mechanical drive.
Some of these products have been sold for offshore applications, including FPSOs. Offshore's readers may remember the delivery in rapid succession at the end of the 1990s of ST6 (then called VAX) steam turbines to three platforms in the Norwegian North Sea – Oseberg, Eldfisk, and Snorre – of which Oseberg was the first ever combined cycle installation offshore.
Iran deliveries
Two GT35Cs, the "oldest" of the gas turbines in our stable, have been installed recently on the Kerr-McGee FPSO Global Producer III for the Leadon field in the UK sector. And three more GT35 C generating sets more are currently under delivery to Soroosh, an oil field 90 km offshore Iran in the Persian Gulf. The order was received in spring 2002. The gensets were subsequently manufactured and packaged in Finspong, and platform-mounted in Abu Dhabi, and are currently being towed to their final destination for commissioning and operation.
At the same time, two 7.9 MW Tempests from the sister site in Lincoln, UK, were ordered for delivery to Nowrooz, some 50 km away. Both fields have been in operation previously, but are being developed further to increase production. The plan is to install a total of eight platforms in the two fields, including three production platforms.
The company's most recent offshore order was also the first order for its newest turbine, the GT10C, in an offshore application. The first two GT10C units were commissioned in November 2002 for a natural gas liquefaction process plant in Port Said, due on line this summer. The first GT10C was successfully string-tested with its Siemens 12 MV5A direct-drive, single-body, centrifugal compressor in Finspong last October, before being dispatched to site. Now a string-test is planned for the coming weeks for the 30-MW GT10C gas turbine in mechanical drive application offshore, driving a Dresser-Rand compressor train. After testing, the equipment will be dispatched to its final location on a fixed platform in the Al Shargi field, offshore Qatar in the Arabian Gulf.
The gas turbine, which will run on natural gas, is due to be delivered this spring. The GT10C is based on proven technology, its overall design being derived from the established 25 MW GT10B, with some features incorporated from the 45 MW GTX100. It is configured to achieve maximal reliability and minimal operation costs. Its compact package design also allows for rapid delivery and installation offshore.
For more information contact Lynne Anderson, Demag Delaval Industrial Turbomachinery AB. Tel: +46 122 81700, fax: +46 122 81515, [email protected], www.industrial-turbines.siemens.com
