Works that previously we have only read in specialized documents are now presenting in our visit to Siemens Group in Germany. It looks like a miracle after 170 years of consistent efforts to find ways to improve life in various areas, setting standards and creating sustainable values for customers, society and each individual of a leading technology group in the world.

From the new brand identity ...

We are one of the rare Vietnamese reporters has witnessed “German tank” continuously devotes its life for Siemens group operation during the central moments of the 200 year birthday anniversary of the Founder Wener Von Siemens (1816-2016) and new brand identity launching.

The nucleus of the new brand identity is the slogan “Ingenuity For Life”. This is the summarization of values that Siemens represents since Werner von Siemens produced his trailblazing inventions nearly two centuries ago. According to Ms. Duong Huong Ly, director of communications of Siemens Vietnam – this slogan could not be translated into Vietnamese to convey perfectly its meaning. In general, it's technological capability, the entrepreneurial spirit, the power of innovation and the desire to give the best things. Each generation at Siemens is responsible to create long-term values for individual customer, employee, citizen as well as the whole society.

With the strengthening of its global brand appearance, Siemens wants to focus on electrification, automation and digitalisation.

...To massive works

Two of those works are the gas turbine factory in Berlin and Lausward power plant in Düsseldorf.

The Berlin gas turbine manufacturing factory was founded in 1904 with a total area of ​​130,000 m² (equivalent to 18 football fields). The main products of the factory are gas turbines with capacities ranging from 117 to 400MW. Until April 27, 2016, 1,000 products had been shipped from the factory to more than 60 countries worldwide. These turbines can meet the demand for energy of nearly 100 cities like Berlin.

On January 22, 2016, Siemens handed over a combined cycle power plant including a H- generation gas turbine in Lausward in Düsseldorf harbor area to its customers, also known as an operator - Stadtwerke Düsseldorf AG Company. The BT plant achieved 3 world records.The  turbine named Fortuna reaches a maximum capacity of power output at 603.8 megawatts (MW) during a commissioning before the handover setting new record for combined cycle plant. Another new world record for setting 61.5% of net power-generating efficiency was set helping Siemens break its own record of 60.75% set in May 2011 at the Ulrich Hartmann power plant in Irsching in the south of Germany.

The high power output level helps the plants become particularly environmental friendly. In addition, Unit “Fortuna” can provide nearly 300 MW of heat for the heating system of Dusseldorf city - another peak value for a power plant that was only installed with one gas turbine and one steam turbine. This helped increase the energy use efficiency of the plant up to 85%, while reducing CO2 emissions down to just 230 grams per kWh. This is the result of continuous development process, like developement in spare part design, the materials used, the overall construction of the plant and in perfect operation of its components.

The gas turbine can run at full load within 25 minutes after a hot start, enabling it to be a backup for renewable energy based power production. This flexibility supports the operator to achieve economical operations in a challenging environment for conventional power plants.

Unit “Fortuna” was handed over to the customer 19 daysprior to contractual date. . The project on the bank of the Rhine was also a great success in terms of occupational safety for everyone involved. There was not a single accident in total more than two million hours of work performed.

Because of the plant’s close proximity to the downtown area of the city, special importance was attached to minimum emission as well as integration of the plant’s space into the city-scape, and lowest achievable noise levels i.e on the opposite bank of the Rhine across from the plant, the noisy level is less than 25 decibels, which is more  quiet than a whisper.

Compared to average emission in power production in all coal-fired thermal power plants across the European Union, a combined gas cycle thermal power plant like the said project with 61.5% of net power-generating efficiency, in theory can cut off about 2.5 million tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to CO2 emission of 1.25 million cars, with each running 15,000 kilometers annually.