This is one of the setbacks of the energy transition : with the development of renewable energies, the demand for large natural gas power plants collapsed in Germany and more generally in Western Europe. Germany’s Siemens, one of the world’s leading suppliers of this type of facilities, suffers badly on its order book. As a result, you will be forced to close several sites in the world, reported on Thursday, October 19, the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which draws on sources close to the group. Thousands of jobs are threatened.
Contacted, Siemens did not wish to comment on the information. But formally recognizes that the group “reflects continuously on the strategic positioning” of its activities. “This may include the consolidation of certain sectors, if market conditions require,” explains one in Munich. However, the market is actually suffering : the sales of gas turbines of medium and large size have dropped in recent years, from 200 turbines to be commissioned by year 2014 in the world to 130 in 2016. Over-current has the effect of compressing the prices and the margins of the industrial groups.
“Adjustments “capabilities
Several elements explain this evolution : in addition to the development of renewable energies, the maintenance of the coal power stations of many countries, such as China, has the consequence that the reactor gases do not have known the development anticipated by the industry. Even in Germany, price low carbon in the european market of quotas on emissions are pushing the energy companies to keep their production, even as natural gas power plants, which can be started and run at full capacity in less than twenty minutes, are considered by experts as the best alternative to respond to the intermittence of renewable energies.
More serious still for Siemens :…
