By 2050the earth will carry some 9.3billion people – around 50percent more than today – many of whom will be living in megacities. By 2015India’s Mumbaifor examplewill be home to 22.6million people – a larger population than present-day Romaniawhile Karachiin southern Pakistanwill have 16.2million inhabitants – more people than now live in the Netherlands.
Not only is world population booming; the age pyramid is also shifting as a result of demographic change.
For the first time in human historythere will soon be as many people in the world over 60 years of age as under 15. At presentthe age group showing the fastest growth is that of the over-80s.
By 2050this group is expected to comprise 4.1percent of the world’s total populationcompared to only 1.2percent today.
These developments underscore the magnitude of the tasks that now confront humankind: to conserve scarce resources; to maintain a clean environment; to provide adequate water supplies and wastewater disposal; to transport people and goods efficiently and safely; to generate and distribute power in an environmentally compatible way.
At the recent media summit organised in Berlin by Siemensthe company says it is a leading provider that develops innovative solutions for the megatrends of the futureso it must be seen to fulfil its prophecies if only to maintain its credibility. Andas it says these megatrends open up opportunities for profitable growthit has to make its vision work to keep up the profitability of the organisation.
The media summit gave it the chance to provide some impressions of how the company’s portfolio will address these megatrends. So its key questions for power generation centred on how to cover the rising global demand for energy and how to supply energy in a way that is compatible with the climate and environmentreliable and also affordable.
It says the world has to face the challenges of accelerating urbanisationdemographic changesinking energy reservesincreasing pollution and climate change. Energy efficiency will play a key role in meeting these challenges but innovative technologies are the key to mastering the future.
Klaus KleinfeldSiemens CEOsaid at the summit: “In the past yearour researchers and developers around the globe have been working to make the world a better place to live and spent E5.2 billion on research and development. That’s more than the research budget of the entire European Union. Our goal is to grow twice as fast as the global economy and achieve sustainable profitability for securing the innovation leadership of our groups. We will grow organically and continue to strengthen our position through acquisitions.”
In other wordsas others develop new technologiesSiemens will observe them until their venture appears to be sustainableand then buy it. When it cannot follow this routeit will seek other solutions such as partnerships in order to maintain its share of that market.
Its R&D budget is 6.8percent of its E75 billion sales total and was spent by some 47000 employees in its research and development facilitiesincluding over 30000 software developers. In the past fiscal year they submitted 8800 invention reports.
The Intellectual Property Owners Associationthe American patent authorityranked Siemens ninth in its list of leading US patent holders in 2005. Last year
the company was granted 1345 patents there in key infrastructure areas such as powerwaterhealthcaretransportation and automation. The company currently holds over 53000 patents.
In power generationSiemens is working against a background of figures from the German Ministry of Economics and Technology that say known oil reserves will last another 43 years. When reserves that have not yet been developed are also taken into accountthe world has enough oil for 67 more years. But prices will rise as time passesas market forces reflect these dwindling suppliesso economic viability will drive the change to other fuels. Siemens sees zero-emission
coal-fired power plants as one answersupported by growth of HVDC and better network management.
The company sees a good future for fossil power generation and says Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology has the potential to be the most innovative and economical CO2-free coal power plant solution. In the long termIGCC efficiency will rise from today’s 47percent to 53percentbringing investment costs down from E1400/kW to E1100/kW. There is also a strong future for coal gasification which will be able to handle a wide range of fuels including hard and brown coalsbiomass and liquid wastewhich meets future requirements for fuel flexibility.
Control developments
Siemens also sees greater use of web-based control systems to better meet future customer demands. There will be greater integration of instrumentation and control so that all functions will be embedded in a common frame rather than use of subsystems. There will be unified access to central data storage for process dataengineering information and project records. This means that all tasks will be performed from any workstation through web-based functionality.
Nanotechnology research will produce new materials and coatings that are easy-to-clean and provide better insulation for turbine blades. Use of second generation ceramicswith their greater ability to withstand very high temperatureswill increase turbine efficiencies.
Gas turbine technology will further evolve with blade developments in aerodynamic designcoolinganti-corrosion coatings and thermal barriers. Siemens points to its past record where the non-cooled blades of 1975 output 0.7MW per blade in a gas temperature of 900°C. Todayfilm-cooled blades output 2MW per blade in a gas temperature of 1400°.
Future developments will rely on greater use of nickel-based super alloyssingle-crystal base materialsnew designs for internal and film-cooled hot gas partshigh-temperature corrosion protection and new thermal barrier coatings for better coolingperhaps based on ceramics.
There will also be improved monitoring of gas turbines in operationleading to smaller clearance gaps to boost efficiencyhigh speed infra-red cameras to record images of red-hot turbine blades and wireless sensors for blade monitoring.
In power usageit sees more energy-saving electric motorssuper-conducting generatorsbuilding automation for greater efficiencylight emitting diodes (LEDs) replacing filament bulbsimproved neural networks and fuzzy logic for energy saving controls. And to meet consumers’ expectationsit sees continuing improvement in security of supplyfuel flexibilitynetwork management and reduction of pollutants.
With the recent unveiling of the company’s latest offeringsthe future is here now with the development of the largest and most efficient gas turbinesthe
SGT5-8000Hwith an output of 340MW; and the combined cycle SCC5-8000H with an output of 530MW. Siemens says this will make a major contribution to the responsible utilisation of increasingly scarce resources. The turbine’s technology increases the efficiency of combined gas and steam generation from 58 to 60percent.
And Siemens Power Generation has just launched a gas turbine-based system to help destroy volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The innovative technologycalled SGT-300VOCis based on a gas turbinewhich ingests and destroys volatile organic compounds while simultaneously generating electricity and thermal energy for the facility in which it is installed.
VOC emissions are collected at a common point for injection into the gas turbine inlet air stream. This contaminated air stream is fed into the gas turbine air intake and is combusted in the standard dry low-emissions combustion system of the SGT-300VOC. The mixingcombustion temperature and residence time is sufficient to ensure burnout of the VOCs to meet the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency standards.
A heat-recovery steam generator can be used to capture the thermal energy and raise steam for use in the client's process or it can be used in a steam turbine to generate additional electricity.
VOCs are chemical substances that evaporate easily. They are emitted by a vast number of industriesmainly in the form of contaminated air that is exhausted from processes such as wood drying or paint spraying.
While operating at full loaddestruction efficiency exceeded 95percent for all tested VOCs and mixtures and exceeded 98percent for several specific VOCs. m
For more informationwww.siemens.de
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