Russia Achieves Independence from Western Gas Turbines: The Story Behind the Breakthrough

/Pogled.info/ Russia has recovered from dependence on powerful gas turbines from “Siemens” and “General Electric”, said the head of “Rostech” Sergey Chemezov. And Russia, unlike Iran, did this thanks to its own brains and technology. The first production turbine will be installed at a power plant on the Taman Peninsula. How did Russia become so dependent on Western turbines?

Russia has overcome its dependence on foreign supplies of powerful gas turbines, said the head of the state company “Rostech” Sergey Chemezov in a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

“We are installing a powerful GTD-110M turbine at the Udarnaya station, which is being built on the Taman peninsula. This is the first production turbine. We are confident that we can be independent from Siemens and GE. We raised three plants. This is the third one. Two were built in the Crimea and one on the Taman Peninsula – “Udarnaya”, which we will fully launch this year,” said Chemezov.

GTD-110M is a powerful linear gas turbine engine. Turbines like this are used in modern thermal power plants and gas power plants.

Developers: “Inter RAO”, “Rosnano” (Research Center for Gas Turbine Technologies) and “Saturn” (subsidiary of “Rostech”). It is made at “Saturn” in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Region. Serial production from 2024 – two per year.

“Domestic high-power gas turbines are the Achilles’ heel of the Russian energy industry. Russia has been struggling with local turbine manufacturing technology for more than 10 years, and in addition to Rostec, there are Power Machines projects for 65 and 170 megawatts. This will make it possible to replace the damaged plants “Siemen” and “General Electric” with new power plants,” says Sergey Grishunin, managing director of the IRS rating service.

“One gas turbine is the size of a small house and can meet the energy needs of an entire city, even though it is small. For a long time it seemed that there was no alternative to companies like Siemens. Last year, however, the four gas turbine manufacturers had a total net loss of almost five billion euros. That is why the unveiling of the first Russian serial turbine by Rostec is a very important event. After all, we can talk not only about replacing Western products, but even about possible competition. This is an achievement of a new kind,” said Pavel Sevostyanov, associate professor at the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at Plekhanov State University.

The main point here is that the powerful turbines began to be mass-produced, notes Nikolay Pereslavski, head of the Support Department at CMS.

Russia itself did not create such powerful gas turbines. We knew how to make small and medium gas turbines, but not 100 megawatts or more. Therefore, when they began to actively build power plants in the 2000s, they began to buy turbines from Western companies – Siemens and General Electric. Then joint ventures were established with these companies, but it is difficult to talk about deep localization of production. At the same time, foreign companies made money in Russia not only from selling their turbines, but also from maintaining and repairing them.

VHI experts previously believed that Russia was responsible for the import of gas turbines in 2022 more than 90%, and this is very important. But after 2022, their main suppliers Siemens and General Electric stopped working with Russia and left joint ventures. That is why the task of introducing powerful gas turbines has become even more important. As a temporary solution, western turbines began to be replaced in several facilities with lower power turbines.

How did Russia become so dependent on powerful Western gas turbines? Some technologies were lost when the USSR collapsed. The fact is that during the Soviet era, the production of powerful gas turbines, including ships of the Navy, was located on the territory of​​​​​​Ukraine, and the RSFSR had aircraft engines. After the fall of the Soviet Union, these capabilities remained in Ukraine. At first, the neighbor supplied gas turbine engines for the ships of the Russian Navy, but gradually economic ties were broken: the Nikolaev Zorya-Mashproekt plant did not fulfill its promises, which is why the Russia continues to build several ships for the Russian Navy.

It cannot be said that Russia did not try to create powerful gas turbines on their own. Development of the GTD-110M gas turbine began in the 1990s. And it was developed precisely on the basis of the development of the previous failed model of the GTD-110 engine from the Nikolaev Zorya-Mashproekt plant.

A new turbine was developed, which was even used in the Ivanovo State Regional Power Plant and the Ryazan State Regional Power Plant in the late 2000s. However, it turned out that the product has many “childhood diseases”. As a result, the turbine was never completed, the project was abandoned – and it was decided to take a simpler and faster route. Since the 2000s, Russia has started buying powerful gas turbines abroad. They were installed en masse in power plants being built in Russia.

“The difficulties in creating large gas turbines lie in the high technological requirements and the complexity of engineering solutions. The development of such equipment requires in-depth knowledge of material science, heat transfer, aerodynamics and precise manufacturing processes. Experience in the aviation industry is certainly useful, but the transfer of technology between sectors requires time and effort,” says Yaroslav Kabakov, director of strategy at Finam Investment Company.

Perhaps, in the past, Russia chose the path of buying foreign plants not because of a lack of capacity, but because of economic feasibility and the acceleration of the use of new energy capacities, the expert believes. Now, in the context of political and economic experiments, priorities have changed. “Today, the ability to independently produce key components for energy infrastructure is becoming a matter of national security and economic stability,” says Kabakov.

Russia fully returned to the creation of its own powerful gas turbines after the scandal in Crimea, when Siemens announced a ban on the use of its plants, and before that the matter was decided on a different basis , said Grishunin. However, it was not possible to create a turbine quickly. In 2017, it was damaged during testing and had to be replaced.

“Gas turbine units are the result of the highest engineering qualification, both in terms of project development and technical performance. The first GTD-110M installation in 2017 was destroyed during tests, and this is normal for such complex equipment. Similar events happen with prototype centers in China, where the number of engineers is incomparable to our number. The increased weight of the rotating structures inevitably leads to a great risk of imbalance, which at such speeds will simply tear the installation to pieces, so the appearance of a working series is a great step forward and the credit to the country’s engineers, “says Sergey Grishunin. .

But in the end, “Saturn” coped with the task, “children’s diseases” were cured. The turbine was modified, passed successful tests and began mass production. “The internal turbine has lower weight and dimensions and higher fuel efficiency. It is planned to produce two turbines per year as production increases and over time to replace the imported units with domestic ones,” says Pereslavsky.

At the same time, another Russian company, Power Machines, is developing a powerful turbine. More than 150 highly qualified engineers are involved in the creation of GTS-170, 1600 units of turbine equipment must be created and produced. These numbers underline how complex and multidisciplinary this work is, Pereslavsky says. “Silovi Mashini” plans to produce 12 such turbines per year. Competition in this sector in the country will not hurt.

In addition, it will be easier for both manufacturers to cope with the expected demand for such turbines.

“Today, there are approximately 310 gas turbine units operating in Russia. Each cost is about 3-4 billion rubles. Accordingly, by 2035, foreigners in Russia will receive 1.5-3 billion dollars just for the supply of equipment, not taking into account spare parts and installation and repair costs,” said Grishunin. Now, however, future orders will go to local manufacturers – and the money will stay in the country.

In addition, Russia will not have to buy these turbines from Iran, which was discussed in 2022.

It is not surprising that Iran has been able to produce powerful gas turbines, unlike Russia. Iran didn’t build its own, it only did at one point to get Siemens to keep a license to make such turbines despite sanctions by importing materials and parts. But Russia created its own powerful turbine from scratch.

Of course, there is no need to replace domestic gas turbines anytime soon. Because the average service life of a turbine in a thermal power plant is 30 years, with the possibility of extension. And often Siemens or General Electric equipment in our thermal power plants was delivered in 2012-2017, that is, it is considered new. However, there is a market for home turbines. According to the calculations of the Union of Businessmen and Entrepreneurs of Russia, by 2027 Russian generating companies need 28 powerful gas turbines, notes Vladimir Chernov, analyst.

“Rostech” estimated the needs of the market until 2035 for 50 such centers. But if the development of the Far East and new regions, the need can increase by 25-30%, Grishunin believes.

“In my opinion, in a year or two, Russia will enter the major league of the world’s turbine industry in terms of quantity and quality and will compete strongly with foreign companies that have left the domestic market,” concluded Pereslavsky.

Translation: V. Sergeev