Press archive 2010

Duisburg/Chennai, 6.8.2010. Power plant constructor Hitachi Power Europe GmbH (HPE) has created an additional mainstay of business in a strongly expanding market by today finalizing the setting up of a joint venture with BGR Energy Systems Ltd. (BGR) in Chennai/India. HPE and the Indian industrial concern will together construct highly efficient utility steam generators ("boilers") for coal power plants and place them into operation. The idea is for a production plant to arise in the Indian federal state of Tamil Nadu by 2012 and with up to four utility steam generators being built a year. The intention behind this cooperation is for both partners to benefit from the rapidly growing market on the Indian sub-continent for new power plants. After all, India is set to more than double its electricity generation capacities in the short term and is relying to a considerable extent on low-emission, fossil fuel-fired power plants. Replaceable energies cannot cover the additional demand, are too expensive and are not reliably available.

The joint venture was signed on 6 August 2010 by the Chief Executive Officer of Hitachi Power Europe, Klaus Dieter Rennert, and Chairman and Managing Director of BGR Energy Systems, B.G. Raghupathy. "In BGR Energy Systems we have found an excellent partner to establish ourselves and our technologies on the Indian power plant market", said Klaus Dieter Rennert. He added that Hitachi Power Europe had a track record going back over a 100 years in utility steam generators and was a leading technology provider and market leader in Europe and South Africa. Chennai-based BGR Energy provided, as an established plant constructor, both the required access to the market and local know-how for the Indian power plant market.

Hitachi Power Europe has 30% of the holdings in the joint "BGR Boilers Private Ltd." venture, with 70% taken on by BGR Energy Systems Ltd. A facility for producing 660–1,000 MW class utility steam generators is scheduled to arise in Tamil Nadu by 2012. Following commissioning the idea is for the plant to deliver up to four highly efficient utility steam generators (3,000 MW in total) a year. It is envisaged that some 2,100 skilled employees will be working in production in the Indian federal state of Tamil Nadu in the 2017 business year. Even today BGR and HPE collectively participate as general contractor in various bid invitations for the construction of new coal power plants on the Indian sub-continent.

Modern coal power plants - for which HPE also supplies utility steam generators in Germany and abroad - attain efficiencies of up to 46% and thus represent some of the most modern of their kind in the world (in comparison: the average efficiency figure for the world is 30% and in the EU 38%). These high efficiency rates are obtained from the use of "supercritical" utility steam generators (300+ bar steam pressure and 600°C+ steam temperature). These kind of supercritical utility steam generators will also be built in India by the HPE and BGR joint venture. Higher efficiency power plants require less fuel to generate the same amount of electricity. This has the effect of both significantly lowering emissions – particularly CO₂ – and sparing valuable resources (fuel).

Even now Hitachi Power Europe produces major power plant components (such as pressure parts, coal mills/burners, steel structures) in its subsidiaries and related companies and, at the same time, can access highly efficient steam generators through the Hitachi Group.  HPE is currently constructing 12 utility steam generators for two power plant sites in South Africa. Since South African coal is very similar (heating value, ash content etc.) to the coal in India, Hitachi Power Europe can resort to its experience and tried-and-tested products in this part of Africa.

According to Klaus Dieter Rennert, the latest joint venture for constructing utility steam generators has not only made the German energy plant constructor more independent in production. "The cooperation will also safeguard the jobs of colleagues in Germany in the years to come."

Along with this joint venture for utility steam generators, a further agreement was signed between BGR and HPE parent company Hitachi, Ltd., for the production of steam turbines for coal power plants. This puts Hitachi Power Europe, Hitachi, Ltd., and BGR into the position as EPC contractor of supplying all the major components of a power plant – from utility steam generators through to turbines/generators and environmental engineering – and placing them into operation.

In view of its size and enormous demand for new plants, the Indian power plant sector will continue to provide considerable opportunities for HPE. With a 1.2 billion population, the Indian sub-continent has 160,000 MW of installed electricity generating capacity (compared with 500 million people in the EU 27 and 820,000 MW); two-thirds of the electricity required comes from fossil fuel-fired power plants. The required overall capacity is set to rise to over 330,000 MW by 2017.

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Duisburg/Zlatibor. High-calibre technical addresses, numerous talks with potential customers and considerable interest shown in the products and know-how of Hitachi Power Europe (HPE) – this was the outcome of the 3-day “Energetika 2010” trade fair held in Zlatibor (Serbia). HPE was the main sponsor for the first time of this important energy congress.

In the years to come, the power plant market in Serbia and in the other countries of eastern and southern Europe will become increasingly significant for HPE. The reasons were quite obvious according to Benjamin Wakounig, HPE representative for the countries of former Yugoslavia. “Most of the electricity in Serbia is generated in lignite power plants built in the 1970s. These plants are obsolete on account of the war and the embargo and are in urgent need of revamping.” Hence, one of the principal matters at the conference was looking into what needed to be done for Serbia – as a candidate for joining the EU – to meet the strict European Union emission requirements. Several hundred participants followed the technical presentations by HPE. Christian Kissling, responsible for sales in the region, said there was considerable interest shown in HPE’s expertise in modern firing technologies. Own key components ensure that not only nitrogen oxide emissions are cut to a minimum – they also optimize the combustion process, raise plant efficiencies and thus reduce coal consumption. A clear case here of environmental protection that pays for itself. As a specialist for lignite firing equipment, HPE can provide both extensive references and highly efficient products in the form, for instance, of its own coal mills and the patented RS burners. Not to be left out is HPE’s competence in environmental engineering, says Dr. Matthias Jochem, Head of Sales & Proposals: “As such, we can provide all the principal components – including those of flue gas desulphurization – to revamp plants from a single source.”

The fact that HPE products are in demand for plant upgrades in eastern Europe was demonstrated just a few months ago when in November 2009 EPS, the state run Serbian energy supplier, signed a contract for 3 units to be upgraded of the Nikola Tesla A (TENT A) lignite power plant. The order had a volume of EUR 36 million. The possible extent of what revamping the Serbian power plant complex could mean was made clear in the opening address of Serbian Energy Minister, Petar Skundric, who spoke of EUR 9 billion being invested by the Serbian energy sector in energy projects in the years to come. This is backed up by an ongoing study with energy supplier EPS estimating that just over EUR 500 million alone will have to be invested for desulphurization of the existing plants up to 2015. HPE Director Wolfgang Marschewski: “The TENT A order and the Energetika trade fair represent just our first steps in entering the promising eastern European market. More will follow. After all, the potential is huge and includes new building projects.”

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Duisburg, 18.01.2010. It is the first major milestone on the way to a more stable and environmentally compatible supply of energy in South Africa. The talk here is of the first boiler column which was set down at the Medupi site for the future 4,800 MW utility power plant on Saturday 16 January. Over the next few years, a total of 12 bituminous coal power plant units will arise at Medupi, which is some 350 kms away from Johannesburg, and at a another site (Kusile) which, on their completion, will ensure an almost 20% share of the overall supply of electricity in South Africa. Together with South African subsidiary Hitachi Power Africa (pty) (HPA), Hitachi Power Europe GmbH (HPE) is supplying the utility steam generators (boilers) for these two projects. The order volume amounts to around EUR 4 billion.

At the end of 2007/start of 2008, the Duisburg energy plant constructor – a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. – received the order from Eskom, South Africa's state-owned energy supplier, to design, construct and commission 12 utility steam generators each of a 800 MWe capacity. These key components will be erected at the two power plant sites of Medupi and Kusile (Limpopo province) by 2016/ 2017. After some two years of groundwork, which has seen HPE/ HPA, for instance, constructing considerable manufacturing capacities in South Africa and training large numbers of skilled workers, the first boiler column setting ceremony marks the first milestone reached.

Medupi is the first new bituminous coal power plant that has been constructed in South Africa for over 25 years. The 6 utility steam generators being built there have a high operating efficiency and are considerably more efficient than existing plants. As less fuel (coal) is needed for the same capacity, the power plant units emit less carbon dioxide and can be run more economically. "The use of the most up-to-date technology thus conserves valuable resources and substantially cuts back on emissions", said Klaus Dieter Rennert, Chief Executive Officer of HPE. "This is of decisive significance for countries with pronounced economic growth rates, such as South Africa, which are dependent on an assured and environmentally compatible supply of energy."

At the same time, the Medupi project and the identically designed utility steam generators for the Kusile location include far more than just installation and commissioning. HPE and HPA are also undertaking considerable investments in people and machines on the spot. For instance, around 60% of the order volume remains in the country as local value added. A host of components which make up a utility steam generator (including pressure parts and steelwork sections) are manufactured in South Africa and over 1,400 South African workers are being qualified. In addition, there are some 300 trainees who, in cooperation with local sponsoring organizations, are trained in technical occupations and trades. This will enable them to find qualified jobs even when the construction project is over. Some 3,000 jobs have been created up to now on the project site and in the component supply companies.

The next few months will see the boiler supporting structure being put up for the first power plant unit in Medupi to be followed by construction of the actual utility steam generator. As for the rest of the units at Medupi, they will go up one by one separated by several months in-between. Going on stream at the beginning of 2016 will be the final utility steam generator – this will be the case for Kusile in 2017.

"The two projects at Medupi and Kusile represent just the start of our long-term commitment in South Africa and the neighboring countries", according to Klaus Dieter Rennert. "In this region there is a considerable demand for the construction of highly efficient power plants and the firm will to see it through. This is a potential which we intend to exhaust to the full with our expertise and excellent products - and that includes environmental protection.“

• Hitachi Power Europe GmbH (HPE), a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., designs and constructs fossil fuel-fired power plants and, with its references, is one of the market and technology leaders. The energy plant constructor also supplies key components such as utility steam generators, environmental technology equipment, turbines and pulverizers. The company has been based at the Inner Port in Duisburg (North–Rhine Westphalia) since 2007 and has a workforce (including associated companies and manufacturing facilities) numbering approximately 1,900. Within the Hitachi Group, Hitachi Power Europe is responsible for the markets in Europe, the former CIS states and in Africa.

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zoom image	Taking part in the ceremony were also Brain Dames (left), Eskom’s Chief Officer for Generation Business, and Klaus-Dieter Rennert, Chief Executive Officer of HPE.
zoom image	The 1st. boiler column represents a major milestone in that the first coal power plant in South Africa for over 25 years is being built.
zoom image	By the beginning of 2016 six power plant units will have arisen in Medupi. Six more will be constructed at the neighboring Kusile location.
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