INTERVIEW: Power Machines ready to design Russian gas turbine

ST. PETERSBURG, Aug 8 (PRIME) -- Engineering company Power Machines is ready to return to development of a Russian gas turbine if the government ensures orders, CEO Yury Petrenya said in an interview to PRIME on released on Tuesday.

“There was a time when we actively worked in that direction and designed and produced a GTE-65 turbine with our own technologies. It was sold to Mosenergo, passed all cold tests and was completely ready to hot tests…In general, Power Machines is ready to return to the project provided we have support, including state support that will allow us to draft a list of potential buyers of national gas turbines,” he said.

Modern gas turbines demand high-end technologies, meaning that costs of research and development will be high. “No company in the world implements such large projects without some state support in a direct or indirect form and without preliminary preparation of a corresponding market,” he said.

Russia has no demand for large-capacity gas turbines similar to those produced by Mitsubishi and General Electric. “We are more interested in a range of 50–200 megawatts taking into account plans for upgrades of the power industry and prospects of constructions of new facilities,” he said.

“One way or another, I am completely sure that we should have modern gas turbines that will increase efficiency of the power sector and will ensure 100% power security. It also means necessity in future localization with a mandatory mastering of critical elements and blocks.”

Currently, Power Machines have a joint venture with Germany’s Siemens – Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies – in which the Russian company owns 35%. In July, Siemens said that it had suspended exports of power equipment to state-controlled Russian companies and only the joint venture, and a Moscow subsidiary of Siemens, will implement all new contracts for gas turbine equipment production.

EXPORTS

Power Machines plans to increase the share of exports in its revenue gradually. “In 2016, the share of exports in the revenue of Power Machines amounted to more than 53%, and the figure will gradually increase,” he said.

“We believe that countries with large-scale construction of power facilities to be promising markets, including the countries of Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and India. Moreover, we should not forget the direction of maintenance and upgrade of installed equipment services, especially taking into account our capabilities in new developments.”

As of early 2017, the portfolio of orders of Power Machines reached 336 billion rubles. The largest projects of the company include Long Phu thermal power plant in Vietnam, sale of equipment for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant and the Barh thermal power plant in India, he said.

EQUIPMENT

Power Machines will deliver equipment for the Kursk AES-2 nuclear power plant on time, and implementation of the project is on schedule, Petrenya said.

The Kursk AES-2 is to substitute power units of the Kursk AES plant simultaneously with the withdrawal of the existing power units.

“We launched a half-speed turbine facility in 2012 and we are now developing, constructing, producing and preparing the production line. We are doing full-scale works on half-speed turbines, a low-speed generator, and equipment of the turbine island of the Kursk AES-2,” he said, adding that the company sees no obstacles and risks for the project.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

Petrenya also said that the company believes that development of power generation running on renewable energy sources is promising and may partake in such projects as a supplier of equipment.

“I would not like to go into detail, but renewable energy sources are in general one of the directions, which we would not like to lose the sight of. This is not just about using the power of wind, but also about the solar power, as the holding has competences in corresponding technical spheres,” he said.

“I think that Power Machines could be a supplier or sub-supplier of equipment for development of renewable energy sources. Anyway, we are working on these options,” he said.

In 2017, Power Machines and nanotechnology company Rusnano signed a memorandum of understanding in which the companies expressed interest in joint production of wind turbines parts in Russia, he added.

(60.0605 rubles – U.S. $1)

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