Abstract: In today’s market for large scale power generation equipment, it is critical to business success to be constantly vigilant relative to market trends that drive the competitiveness of the product line.  Over the past several years as aging coal plants near retirement and natural gas prices have been on the decline in the U.S., the market has shifted heavily in the direction of natural gas fired generation. More specifically, this market is trending to natural gas fired gas turbine based combined cycle power plants. Traditional decision making on turbine technology has historically been based on capital costs and fuel efficiency. As more and more renewable sources of electrical energy are being brought on-line, natural gas generation is now demanded to operate with high degrees of operational flexibility. This is primarily to address gaps in the load demand when solar and wind power sources are not available.

The focus of this presentation is to discuss the trend towards increase in generation powered by natural gas and to discuss in detail the technology that Siemens has developed to address this market. The 5000F and 8000H gas turbine technologies will be discussed in detail along with how they have been integrated into complete power plant solutions. Another aspect of technology development is to ensure that reliable gas fired technologies are pre-validated before project implementation. This maintains customer confidence that the selected generation technology will operate reliably when called upon.  Siemens approach to validation of natural gas fired turbines will be subject of this presentation as well.

BIO: Vinod Philip is the Engineering Head of Siemens Gas Turbines, has been a part of Siemens Energy Inc. for 14 years, and has handled various engineering and management responsibilities in the areas of Gas Turbine Materials, Design, and Technology.

In his current position as an Engineering Director responsible for the global Gas Turbine Engineering organization, Vinod is responsible for driving the design, development and validation of Gas Turbine Components and Technologies for current and next generation Gas Turbines. These component designs & technology solutions are also aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of Siemens’ installed fleet of Gas Turbines via component upgrades resulting in further strengthening the Service business. In addition to his functional responsibilities, Vinod is actively engaged in the Diversity & Inclusiveness efforts at Siemens as a Siemens Diversity Ambassador and a member of the Siemens Energy Inc., Diversity & Inclusiveness Council. He also is a participant in the Siemens, Crummer and Rollins Mentoring Programs as well as Siemens Leadership Excellence Programs as an Alumni Faculty.

Vinod is also actively involved with developing collaborative relationships with universities world-wide. In this capacity, he has worked with others in the organization to develop a network of university collaborations that spans the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He is on the industrial advisory boards of the College of Mechanical Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology. He is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Chair of the Research Sub-Committee, at the University of Central Florida. In addition, he is on the Alumni Board of the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rolling College.