Siemens announced that its H-Class gas turbine has been recognized with German Industry's Innovation Award, which is the first innovation award in the world. The turbine has achieved an efficiency record of 60.75% in combined cycle duty.
Siemens receives the German Industry's Innovation Award in the large companies category.
The award has been presented by EU Energy Commissioner, Günther Oettinger, to the CEO of Siemens’ Energy Sector and Managing Board member, Michael Suess. Testing and development of the new SGT5-8000H gas turbine took approximately 10 years. The company has made nearly half a billion euro investment to establish and operate the prototype combined cycle power plant (CCPP) in Irsching, Bavaria.
The new H-Class turbine has high operating flexibility and is ideal for use with solar and wind power facilities. The turbine requires about one-third less fuel per kWh compared to gas-fired power plants that are installed globally. This provides considerable fuel cost savings and decrease carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The SGT5-8000H combined cycle gas turbine has been developed in collaboration with universities and research organizations at the Siemens’ sites in Muehlheim, Berlin and Erlangen, Germany; and Orlando, Florida.
Siemens currently manufactures turbines at its facility in Berlin and will also start production at its new plant in Charlotte, U.S. The company has received an order for a comprehensive CCPP in Bugok, South Korea and six orders for 60 Hz turbines from Florida. In 2011, Siemens’ products and technologies have enabled customers to minimize their CO2 emissions by about 320 million tons, which is equal to the overall annual CO2 emissions of Tokyo, Singapore, New York, London, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Delhi and Berlin. Thus, Siemens has become one of the world's leading suppliers of environmentally friendly technologies.