Siemens has commissioned its Clean Energy Centre, a new gas turbine burner test site located in Ludwigsfelde, near Berlin. Combustion processes in gas turbines will be examined and validated at the site, with the aim of enhancing the efficiency of the company’s gas turbines and improving their flexibility regarding the use of different liquid and gaseous fuels. Siemens has invested around €100 million in this new R&D site, which is part of its Berlin gas turbine manufacturing plant, and will play a key role in the development of new, and the modernisation of existing, gas turbines. There are now several test cells available in Ludwigsfelde in which combustion processes can be analyzed and optimized under realistic conditions.
In the course of these tests, various measured variables, such as output, efficiency, emission levels and flame stability are determined. The goal is to qualify the gas turbines for new fuels so that new applications can be tapped. Siemens tests the behaviour of burners and gas turbines when burning contaminated gases, low-calorific process gases such as coke oven gas and blast furnace gas, or liquid fuels such as crude oil, naphtha, heavy fuel oil and other condensates produced in the petrochemicals industry.
"Our … gas turbine and combined cycle power plants are marked by their high degree of availability and flexibility and their low emissions. In our new Berlin test centre we can conduct more intensive research into burner technology independently of external test facilities, which enables us to be even more innovative," stated Christopher Steinwachs, head of the business segment Large Gas Turbines within the Siemens Power and Gas Division.
