Siemens 2013 Annual Report Download - page 13

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 – The turbine hall of Unit  at the
Kirishi power plant is enormous.
Siemens engineer Andrey Lukashkin
(right) is on site five days a week,
working with plant employees to
monitor the system.
 – Once a month, Kirill Gamburger
(left) travels from St. Petersburg
to Kirishi to consult personally with
his Siemens colleague Andrey
Lukashkin, who works at the plant.
Increase in capacity 500
MW
The modernization of Unit 6 at the
Kirishi power plant nearly tripled
the unit’s installed capacity, from
about 300 to 800 megawatts.
Siemens project manager Kirill Gamburger
is responsible for ensuring that the up-
graded Unit 6 at the Kirishi power plant
operates smoothly. The engineering pro-
fession runs in the blood of this passionate
engineer. Gamburger, who also devotes his
free time to technology-related pursuits, is
descended from three engineers – follow-
ing in the footsteps of not only his mother
and father but of his grandfather as well.
And he’s not the only family member to up-
hold the tradition: his brothers also studied
engineering in St. Petersburg. At Siemens,
Gamburger can put his skills to the test:
“I’m primarily responsible for long-term
service agreements that run for six to
twelve years – or 50% to 100% of a gas
turbine’s entire lifecycle. I organize the de-
livery of replacement parts, recruit employ-
ees, prepare work plans and schedules,
and coordinate all these processes in con-
sultation with the plant staff.” Gamburger
will remain in charge of Kirishi’s repowered
Unit 6 throughout its lifecycle since plant
operator OGK-2 and Siemens have signed a
service agreement for the gas turbines and
generators that extends from 2013 to 2025.
The growing energy needs
of a vibrant region
Russia’s huge reserves of natural gas and
petroleum are extremely important for the
country’s economy and its roughly 143 mil-
lion inhabitants as well as for meeting the
energy needs of Europe and Asia. As one of
the world’s largest electricity producers,
Russia is facing new challenges. According
to Russian government forecasts, demand
for electricity will increase 50% by 2030.
The problem is that many of the country’s
power plants are outdated. According to
Russia’s Ministry of Energy, half the coun-
try’s steam power plants have been in
operation for anywhere from 32 to 50 years,
and another 22% were commissioned over
50 years ago. In view of the low efficiency
of many of these plants, Russia is investing
heavily to expand its power-generating
capacity.
But supply bottlenecks cannot be elimi nat-
ed simply by building new power plants.
The only way to ensure that businesses and
residents have ample, reliable supplies of
power is to boost the efficiency of existing
plants as well. Russia currently generates
most of its electricity at aging steam power
plants. Our upgrade at Kirishi impressively
demonstrates how the peak output and
energy efficiency of existing facilities can
be dramatically improved.
Energy-efficient and
environ mentally friendly
A failure at Kirishi’s Unit 6 would have neg-
ative consequences for the power supply
in St. Petersburg and across the northwest-
ern region of Russia. As project manager,
Kirill Gamburger has a great deal of re-
sponsibility for the power plant’s availabil-
ity and performance. He also keeps a close
eye on operating costs for his customer:
“We’re now making better use of valuable
natural gas, and our customer is benefit-
ing from substantial cost savings. Just con-
sider the comparison: the efficiency of the
old units was 38%, while the new units are
reaching 55%. That means we need one-
third less natural gas to generate the same
amount of electricity.” And this increased
efficiency also benefits the environment:
“One-third less natural gas per kilowatt-
hour of electricity means one-third fewer
emissions of climate-damaging carbon
dioxide per kilowatt-hour,” notes Kirill
Gamburger. PAGE 
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Protecting the environment
Generating power more efficiently