Siemens Energy has installed and commissioned an SGT-800 Industrial Demonstrator Turbine at a gas-fired power plant at the Marl Chemical Park in Germany, where it will be used to test and validate new turbine technologies under commercial operating conditions.
The Siemens Energy-owned machine will operate for four years at the power plant, supplying electricity and process steam to the chemical site while components are monitored and replaced as part of planned validation campaigns.
The plant is operated by SYNEQT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Evonik Industries, and already has four SGT-800 units. One of the existing machines has been replaced by the demonstrator, while the original turbine remains available as a reserve. This arrangement allows Siemens Energy to conduct testing without putting overall plant availability at the same level of risk as a standalone demonstration project.
The demonstrator will be used to gather long-term operating data on components including turbine blades, vanes and burners. Technologies under consideration include parts manufactured using additive manufacturing, as well as new materials and protective coatings.
Siemens Energy said the approach complements laboratory, rig and component-level testing. Operating a machine for thousands of hours in a commercial environment provides data on component behaviour under actual loads and operating conditions, supporting the qualification of new designs for wider deployment.
Vanessa Bauch, senior vice president for Gas Services Distributed at Siemens Energy, said customer partnerships were important for this stage of technology development.
“For long-term validation under actual load and performance conditions, partnerships with customers such as SYNEQT are invaluable,” she said.
SYNEQT plant manager Lorena Piles Tortajada said the project demonstrated that technology development and plant reliability could be managed together.
“Open and trusted cooperation between OEMs and operators is essential to bring innovative solutions into the power generation industry faster,” she said.
The demonstrator is expected to provide operational experience for new component designs, with potential applications in areas including efficiency, reliability, manufacturing and lifecycle performance across Siemens Energy’s gas turbine fleet.
