Power generation reliability is their calling

For over 25 years, Sulzer has supported Asia’s growing energy sector with advanced turbo services

Rapid industrialization, increased energy demand and the energy transition present operators in the Asian power generation sector with multiple challenges. Ensuring that critical equipment in these applications can operate reliably is imperative for safeguarding energy supply. 

With a local presence in the region for over a quarter of a century, Sulzer has supported players in Asia’s power generation sector with market-leading services and solutions. An established expert, Sulzer provides around-the-clock engineering support, including specialty turbomachinery services, enabling operators to maximize equipment uptime. 

Asia’s evolving energy landscape

Asia’s economic growth has driven a 200% increase in power demand over the past two decades. In response to this, coal, oil, gas and renewable energy infrastructure has developed rapidly. Concurrently, Asia is moving towards a low carbon future. As grid system adapts to the integration of renewables, equipment in power stations is having to adapt to different duty requirements and operating points. To reliably meet these demands takes in-depth engineering knowledge and experience.

One-stop-shop for rotating equipment

Throughout the development of Asia’s energy markets, Sulzer has proved itself as the premier one-stop engineering partner for major utility-scale power plants and independent power producers (IPPs). It provides 24/7 repair and upgrade services for all types of rotating equipment, including steam turbines, gas turbines, generators, pumps, compressors, motors and more. With over two centuries of power generation engineering heritage, Sulzer’s knowledge of legacy and modern equipment operational across the sector is unrivalled.

This is especially true for turbomachinery. Sulzer’s service centers in Purwarkata, Balikpapan, Nantong, Maitland and Vadodara offer more than 18’000 m2 of turbomachinery focused workshop space, over 500 technical staff and seamless access to the wider Sulzer global network. These facilities are adept at servicing all types and brands of steam and gas turbines. 

Providing an expanded offering to customers, Sulzer’s other 14 service centers in the region supply expert pump and electromechanical repair and upgrade services. As a global pump OEM, Sulzer delivers leading maintenance support and retrofits for critical equipment such as high energy pumps. Complete rewinds and refurbishments of motors and generators are also available in-house. 

These capabilities provide operators with a responsive, turnkey approach to repairs and upgrades for equipment from any brand.

Advanced turbomachinery capabilities

Thanks to Sulzer’s commitment to continuous modernization of facilities across the region, state-of-the-art equipment is available for turbomachinery of all sizes. Precision machine tools and 3D laser scanning equipment support the reverse engineering and manufacture of replacement parts. Large capacity submerged arc welding systems with multiple heads allow high quality dimensional restoration. The very latest CNC vertical lathes and milling machines combine with a wide range of portable equipment to support any repair. The ability to service big turbines is guaranteed with cranage capacity of up to 60 tonnes and portable dynamic balancing for equipment up to 100 tonnes. To prove turbine performance, non-destructive testing (NDT) and load testing capabilities are available too. This completes the lifecycle of a servicing project, ensuring a turnkey approach for customers.

Specialist, technically advanced turbomachinery capabilities, a global network of experts and a century of turbomachinery engineering heritage are what differentiate Sulzer. Customers can benefit from on-site troubleshooting and overhauls, material upgrades for equipment and digital preventative maintenance solutions. The business can also manufacture or reverse engineer spare parts, including complex items such as turbine blades, using CNC machines and additive manufacturing. 

This supports Sulzer’s comprehensive retrofit services, which enable existing equipment to be cost-effectively enhanced to meet new efficiency and performance standards within the same footprint. This reliably extends the lifecycle of legacy equipment too, including steam and gas turbines. Generator rewinds are another Sulzer specialism. Additionally, Sulzer offers turnkey coil manufacturing in-house, supported by its database of over 10,000 coil designs.

Proven in turbomachinery projects

Sulzer has successfully serviced over 1’500 gas and steam turbines, 400 plus compressors and more than 300 turbo generators in Asia. All in all, Sulzer has supported over 53 GW of turbine capacity, which is a sizeable contribution to regional energy security. Building on this impeccable track record, Sulzer is adding to its reputation by breaking new ground throughout Asia.

Recently, Sulzer’s service center in Indonesia conducted a swift in-house repair of a 14-tonne steam turbine rotor for a power plant in the Philippines. The team minimized the lead time for the repair by chartering Antonov cargo planes to transport the large rotor to the service center and back. This ensured that the 150 MW generator, which supplied 100’000 homes with power, was reinstated as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile in China, Sulzer’s combustion auto-tuning system contributed to a 30% reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from gas turbines at a Jiangsu-based power plant. Furthermore, the project delivered a combined capital expenditure and maintenance cost saving of more than USD 2 million to the operator.

Back in 2018, Sulzer’s reverse engineering capabilities were brought to the fore when it supported a waste to power plant in North Asia with a new steam turbine rotor, unlocking a 3% increase in production capacity.  The turnkey solution entailed an on-site feasibility study for manufacturing new blade roots and airfoils designs. Thereafter, the forging rotor shaft was produced and machined to size along with new blades and seals, before installation, balancing and commissioning was carried out on-site.

Asia’s energy expert

As the power generation landscape in Asia continues to evolve, Sulzer provides wide-ranging capabilities to respond to any new demand placed on turbomachinery and rotating equipment in energy applications. Progressive innovation has positioned the company to adapt to different requirements across the industry, enabling it to support evolving operational demands placed on power players due to the energy transition. As a result, energy suppliers can effectively respond to industrialization, population growth and the increasing flexibility requirements of the electrical grid – improving energy security.

By partnering with an experienced, best-in-class engineering services partner like Sulzer, operators can continue to reliably keep pace with Asia’s energy demands well into the future.

Find out more about Sulzer’s capabilities in Asia here.