Siemens' 10 Top-Valued Projects Include Heavyweight Finnish Nuclear, Egyptian NGCC Plants

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Siemens AG (Munich, Germany) has been shifting its focus to energy generation and distribution, and has seen significant global order growth in a majority of industrial businesses so far this year. The engineering juggernaut's global Industrial Business order backlog hit a record 115 billion euros ($127.52 billion) at the end of the first quarter, with a book-to-bill ratio of 1.19; a ratio of more than 1 indicates a company has a demand for orders that exceeds what it can immediately supply.

Industrial Info's project database is tracking 395 projects globally, worth $147.01 billion, which involve Siemens in some capacity. Almost 60% of that amount can be attributed to the 10 highest-valued projects, while 95% of the total is concentrated in three industries: Power, Metals & Minerals, and Petroleum Refining.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing active projects that involve work from Siemens, by industry.

The single largest project involving Siemens is Teollisuuden Voima Oyj's (TVO) (Eurajoki, Finland) $9.44 billion Unit 3 at Olkiluoto Nuclear Complex in Eurajoki, Finland, which would be the first new reactor in Western Europe in several decades. TVO plans to install an AREVA A.S. (Paris, France) stainless steel European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), followed by a light-water reactor to drive Siemens' Double-Flow high-pressure turbine and 6-Flow low-pressure turbine. The addition of the 1,600-megawatt (MW) Unit 3 will increase the facility's capacity to 3,280 MW. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

The project has been hindered by ballooning costs and has faced delays for upward of 10 years. According to Financial Times, TVO was the first customer for Areva's EPR technology, which also is to be used at the U.K.'s Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Project, but the two companies have been struggling to resolve multibillion-euro legal claims by both. Areva's pending sale of its nuclear reactor business to Électricité de France (EDF) (Paris, France) also has created complications.

Still, according to Finnish news source Yle Uutiset, Unit 3 moved closer to completion in April, when TVO submitted an operating license application to the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. TVO expects to obtain the operating license toward the end of 2016 and to begin generating power at the end of 2018.

Siemens Limited Egypt (Cairo, Egypt), a subsidiary, is performing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services on a trio of natural gas-fired, combined-cycle (NGCC) power plants, each with a capacity of 4.8 gigawatts (GW), for Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (Cairo): the $8 billion Beni Suef Thermal Power Station in Bani Suwayf, the $8 billion Burullus Thermal Power Station in Kafr el-Sheikh, and the $8 billion New Capital Thermal Power Station in Cairo. These facilities are a major part of the Egypt Megaproject, which is being developed by a partnership between Siemens and the Egyptian government, and is designed to boost the country's power generation by about 50%.

Each of the three NGCC plants involves the construction and installation of four 2-on-1, combined-cycle power blocks, each utilizing two 400-MW, SGT5-8000H combustion turbine generator sets from Siemens, with two NEM heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), to drive a 400-MW steam-turbine generator set, also from Siemens. For more information, see Industrial Info's project reports for the Beni Suef, Burullus and New Capital plants.

Compared with other NGCC projects worldwide, the Egypt Megaproject seems to be moving at a relatively speedy pace. Earlier this month, the first two SGT5-8000H combustion turbine generator sets arrived at Beni Suef and were installed, and the plant is expected to deliver its first gas to the national grid before the end of the year, although none of the three facilities are expected to be fully complete before the end of 2018. According to Siemens, the finished facilities will make up the world's largest NGCC project.

Egypt certainly needs the juice: the country has been in an electricity crisis for several years, with citizens and businesses accustomed to rolling blackouts. The Egypt Megaproject also includes the planned construction of 12 windfarms, with a total capacity of about 2 GW, as well as the construction of several gas-insulated switchgear substations and the strengthening of various transmission systems.

Another subsidiary, Siemens VAI Metals Technologies Shanghai Company, is serving as technology provider on one of China's most closely watched projects: Shanghai Baosteel Group Corporation's (Shanghai) $6.88 billion iron and steel mill in Zhanjiang. The 10 million metric-ton-per-year, state-of-the-art mill is expected to wrap up in the third quarter of 2016. For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

According to Fortune, Baosteel, which is China's top steel producer, expects its total output to increase about 20% this year, despite a massive capacity glut that the country is aiming to reduce. China also is facing a slew of "dumping" complaints from other countries, including the U.S., who say that China has been aggressively selling surplus steel-product exports at unfairly low prices. China's steel exports hit a record 112 million tons last year, according to Fortune.

The five other highest-valued projects involving Siemens are:

• $4.5 billion: Unit 1 at Rosatom's Smolensk 2 nuclear power plant near Desnogorsk, Russia
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $4.27 billion: Santo Antonio Energia's hydropower station on the Madeira River, near Porto Velho, Brazil
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $4.2 billion: Unit 2 at Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Nuclear Power Station in Spring City, Tennessee
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $4.18 billion: Saline Water Conversion Corporation's Ras Al Khair Power and Desalination Station in Jubail, Saudi Arabia
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.
• $3.57 billion: ScottishPower Renewables' East Anglia Offshore Windfarm, Phase I, near Great Yarmouth, England
  For more information, see Industrial Info's project report.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.