Despite a loud scandal due to the resupply of gas turbines Siemens to the sub-Crimea, the German company intends to retain a large part of the Russian market in this sector. Siemens is ready to invest in the increase from the current 60% to 90% of the localization in Russia of the production of powerful turbines, which will give the company access to the supply of equipment for the modernization of the TPP at a cost of 1.35 trillion rubles. At the same time, production is planned to continue on the platform of JV Siemens and Power Machines Alexei Mordashov, who in spring announced plans to develop domestic turbines - but with state support and the obligations of Russian generating companies to purchase this equipment.

German engineering concern Siemens plans to increase the depth of localization of production of power gas turbines in Russia to 90%, the head of the concern in Russia Dietrich Möller said on July 5. We are talking about high-power turbines produced at the site of the joint venture "Siemens gas turbine technology" (STGT, Siemens 65%, Aleksey Mordashov's "Power Machines" 35%). The need to increase localization is associated with stringent requirements for equipment purchased by investors to participate in a large-scale modernization program for old TPPs worth up to 1.35 trillion rubles, which is now being discussed in the government. "We have reached the level of localization in 60% - it is not so far to the required 90%," Mr. Möller believes.

Mostly, according to the top manager of Siemens, it is about increasing the localization of the most popular Siemens model in the Russian market - SGT-2000E (187 MW), also, possibly, on the SGT-4000F (329 MW) and H100 (118 MW) models, which STGT in 2017 received a license from the Japanese Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems.
Mr. Möller did not comment on the planned amount of investments in increasing the localization, but specified that it could take from one to two years.

It also did not name the capacity of the Russian market that was necessary for loading the STGT site, but noted that now STGT produces from seven to ten gas turbines a year, some for export.

The idea of ​​increasing the localization of the output of foreign turbines in the country in April was put forward by the head of Gazprom Energoholding (which unites the generation of Gazprom) Denis Fedorov. In his opinion, it is necessary to agree with the major international producers - Siemens or American GE - about full localization in Russia. "With Siemens, we said it," - then said Mr. Fedorov. He also proposed a site for STGT for the project.

Russia's dependence on the import of high-capacity gas turbines was especially evident in 2015-17, when the Technopromexport LLC, a member of Rostek, unsuccessfully searched for equipment for the construction of TPPs in the sub-annexation Crimea. Siemens was ready to sell its turbines, but only for projects on the mainland of the Russian Federation. As a result, the Rosteha structure was redirected to the Crimea by the Siemens turbines previously purchased for the TPP project in Taman (Krasnodar Territory), which caused an international scandal. The future of STHT as a joint venture was in question: in particular, Alexei Mordashov spoke about the possible exit of the company from the joint venture. Siemens has been "heard" about this, but is working with the Russian company "in a good team spirit."

After the Crimean scandal, Russian engineering workers intensified the development of their own turbine technologies. But the attempt to revive the project of the Russian gas turbine GTD-110M (the development was frozen in 2000-2010), undertaken by the consortium Rusnano, the United Engine Company Rostekha and Inter RAO, has not led to any positive results. A sample turbine GTE-110M collapsed during testing in December 2017. In April, the owner of Power Machines Alexei Mordashov said about the readiness to start a similar project with co-financing from the state. The Ministry of Industry and Trade then said that they were discussing with Silmash projects for creating models of turbines from 65-70 to 160-180 MW.

Meanwhile, the key issue is the availability of a market for all the announced projects of high-capacity turbines. Mr. Mordashov, as Kommersant reported on May 18, already in April, offered the government to introduce binding contracts for the supply of gas turbines of "Silmash" with the generating companies participating in the program for the modernization of 40 GW of TPPs. However, it is not yet clear that the program will create a massive demand for gas turbine equipment. On the one hand, the project of the program allows adding steam turbines to gas - creating a combined-cycle plant with an efficiency of up to 60%. But on the other hand, the "System Operator" (the power system manager) previously estimated the demand for turbines within the program in 195 steam and only six gas installations.