Driving energy forward, coast to coast

The American road trip represents independence, adventure, and a sense of discovery made possible by the technological advancements of automobiles and massive upgrades to infrastructure, including the Interstate highway system.

For more than 140 years, Siemens Energy has been on its own journey to provide customers with world-class energy technologies that fast-track American energy abundance, spur growth, and foster independence.

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We now help generate and support every form of American energy and provide solutions for balancing and strengthening the grid. We are here and everywhere in the U.S., our technologies deployed in every state and territory.

Generators being transported in New York

In 2024, four of Siemens Energy’s high-voltage transformers passed by the New York City skyline on their way to Brookhaven, New York. These transformers are a crucial part of the first high-voltage direct current (HVDC) offshore grid connection in the U.S., which will enable more renewable energy to reach the people of New York.

As we travel down the east coast in North Carolina, Siemens Energy has announced that it will expand its facility in Charlotte to manufacture and service large power transformers, a critical component of the nation’s power grid. Additionally, the $400 million expansion will also add more than 600 jobs to the company’s existing 1,250 employees based there.

Siemens Energy supports 50% of America’s nuclear fleet with equipment and services, and there are some great examples as we steer our voyage towards the Midwest. We are playing a pivotal role in the recommissioning of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township, Michigan. Our scope of work includes comprehensive site assessments, Steam Turbine and Generator equipment replacement and refurbishment, and recommissioning field service support. The plant is expected to come online by the end of 2025 and generate more than 800 MW of electricity, enough to power approximately 800,000 households.

At the Braidwood and Byron Clean Energy Centers in Illinois, Siemens Energy is providing new low- and high-pressure steam turbines to increase their output. Through these investments, the two plants will generate an additional ~135 megawatts of carbon-free electricity - enough to power 100,000 homes around the clock for an entire year.

Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert Township, Michigan

Heading south, Texas’ Permian Basin is the site of the world’s first large-scale direct air capture plant, which is using Siemens Energy compressors to help the plant capture up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2 per year when fully operational.

In central Texas, our innovation is increasing the state’s electricity supply to address power shortages. Here, a Texas-based energy company is building a natural-gas fired power plant that will be powered by two of Siemens Energy’s SGT6-9000HL gas turbines. When completed, the plant will provide 1,200 megawatts of dispatchable power, providing enough electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes.

As we travel west, we find a project focused on transitioning a power plant from coal to natural gas and integrating Hydrogen storage. There in Utah, Siemens Energy has delivered three Synchronous Condenser units, the largest condenser project at one location in the U.S. and possibly the world. This technology is crucial in integrating renewable energy sources and enhancing grid stability across North America.

In California, Nevada and Arizona, Siemens Energy steam turbines are active in concentrated solar power projects. In these applications, power is captured via mirrors that concentrate sunlight onto a receiver tube and convert it into heat. The heat is then used to generate steam, which is driven through a steam turbine to produce electricity.

The continued innovation of Siemens Energy remains key to American’s energy expansion. This includes pursuing education and workforce development, such as our $5 million partnership with the University of Central Florida, which supports sustainable energy research, talent development, and executive education—ensuring the next generation of engineers is ready to lead.

The company also supports veterans, apprenticeships, and STEM education programs, reinforcing its belief that a strong energy future depends on a strong, diverse, and skilled workforce.

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Ensuring a more resilient and independent energy system requires getting in the driver seat. Throughout our journey, whether it’s upgrading aging infrastructure, integrating renewables, or deploying hydrogen-ready turbines, we bring a deep technical expertise and a collaborative spirit to every customer engagement. Mile by mile, we keep building on our more than a century legacy here to help deliver more energy to more Americans.

The United States is the largest economy in the world. For us to maintain that dominance, we need to produce and deliver more energy. 25 percent of total U.S. energy generation is powered by Siemens Energy technologies. From 25 facilities and 14 service centers throughout the United States, our more than 13,000 employees are a part of this country’s energy journey. To keep up with this unprecedented demand, Siemens Energy plans to add hundreds of jobs ensuring we are prepared for the future of energy, and of our nation.

From now until the close of the year, we are taking stock – looking at where we are now and offering a vision of where we are going. And what better way to do that than a road trip?

I have enlisted the help of thought leaders throughout the US for a drive coast to coast, taking in the sights and sounds and surveying the impact that Siemens Energy has made on our industry and our nation along the way.

My trip begins in the Pacific Northwest at Colman Dock in Seattle, WA. I am watching the Wenatchee come in from scenic Bainbridge Island. It is the first Washington State Ferry to undergo hybrid-electric conversion, becoming the largest U.S. ferry retrofitted with this technology. It is 460 feet long, can carry 2,499 passengers and 202 vehicles, and, when it launched in 1998, it was powered by four diesel engines. Washington State Ferries is in the middle of an effort to modernize the entire fleet and convert them to hybrid-electric power by 2040. They hired Siemens Energy to help.

When our work began, two of the four original diesel generators were removed by the shipyard and Siemens Energy added our BlueVault Energy Storage system, creating 5.7 MWh in total energy storage. Now, a Siemens Energy Power Management system directs power output when needed and stores energy when it isn’t. The Siemens Energy Charge Management System was installed in the Wenatchee and will be installed in all hybrid vessels as well as each electrified terminal. The Charge Management System will manage the connection between the vessel and the shore. When charging stations are installed at a later date, the Wenatchee is prepared to connect to them. With the advanced propulsion systems now installed, the Wenatchee will significantly reduce emissions, reduce fuel consumption, and reduce maintenance costs, setting a benchmark for future conversions. Once the shore plug-in system is installed, the Wenatchee and all future hybrid ferries will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 76 percent.

From Seattle, I get on I-5 North and take 520 over Lake Washington to Redmond. This is the home of Microsoft and where Nintendo has their US headquarters. In 2024, Siemens Energy opened a new turbomachinery laboratory there focused on developing and testing technologies to support industrial decarbonization.

Here, we work with factories that make pulp and paper, which is a high-temperature process. Last year, the state of Washington gave us a grant to develop a transportable, electrically powered Turbo Heater. This novel technology generates high-temperature process heat without fuel combustion and has the ability to help decarbonize the pulp and paper industry, as well as other sectors that have traditionally had large emissions.

Cutting-edge innovation is what this area of the country is known for, so we fit right in. Our team in Redmond is also working on a rotating olefins cracker and an advanced rotor hydrogen compressor – more turbomachines that will reduce industrial emissions.

Olefins are a key building block in the chemical industry, particularly in the production of polymers, plastics, and other petrochemical products. They have historically been made using conventional furnaces. The rotating olefins cracker represents an efficient and sustainable breakthrough in the field of chemical processing. When driven by electric-powered motors or hydrogen-fired gas turbines, the technology creates a path to decarbonize production of light olefins. As industries continue to prioritize decarbonization and energy efficiency, innovations like the rotating olefins cracker will play a crucial role in shaping the future of chemical manufacturing.

Turbocompressors are used in multiple industrial processes. For challenging hydrogen compression applications, our high speed, multi-stage advanced rotor compressor can reduce the required equipment and footprint of these processes by more than 50 percent compared to conventional turbocompressor technology.

The team is also working on additional innovative decarbonization technologies for power generation and energy storage that utilize turbomachinery-based solutions.

Innovation dreams in the Seattle area become reality and change the world. Siemens Energy is doing our part – making technology that will transform the carbon footprint of manufacturing in America and throughout the world. And I couldn’t be happier to see it all with my own eyes.

I am handing the keys to Matt Neal, Siemens Energy’s Vice President of Grid Solutions for North America. He will take you on the next leg of the journey.

As I make my way south and east from Seattle, grid stability is on my mind. So, I am making some stops in Utah, New Mexico and Texas - homes to our synchronous condenser projects. A synchronous condenser is essentially a generator that is used to absorb or provide steady-state flow to the electrical grid, deliver short circuit power and support inertia. Synchronous condensers are called upon frequently in the United States to fill needs of stable power grid transmission. Higher levels of intermittent power, such as wind and solar, are being added to our electrical grid and are replacing older rotating equipment like coal. Synchronous condensers can help stabilize a grid when there is deep penetration of these intermittent resources.

My stop in Utah is the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) in the city of Delta, near the mineral-rich Topaz Mountain.

IPP is undergoing a transformation from coal to natural gas, and to support this transformation, Siemens Energy delivered Generator Step up Transformers in June of 2024 and later added three synchronous condensers. This is the largest condenser project at one location in the United States and possibly the world. These condensers greatly increase the amount of energy from IPP that can be delivered to project participants in Southern California. In fact, the high-voltage direct current line from Delta to Adelanto, CA cannot run at 100 percent without these condensers.

In New Mexico, I stop in Clovis, known for its archaeological discoveries and early contributions to rock and roll. Siemens Energy installed a synchronous condenser here in 2018 that helps balance the 200 MW of wind capacity being delivered along a 216-mile transmission line to the Albuquerque area.

Wind generation facilities tend to be located far from demand centers, presenting utilities with control and operational challenges. This has lead to increased interest in synchronous condensers.

As I exit New Mexico, I enter West Texas, where Siemens Energy has been awarded engineering, procurement, and construction contracts to supply 10 synchronous condensers. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said in a report that the implementation of synchronous condensers would effectively bolster the reliability of the West Texas system, make the system more resilient to unexpected events, and address the challenges that may arise in real-time operations. I share ERCOT’s hope that the next time I roll through here, the grid will be more reliable for people on this side of the Lone Star State.

Before this road trip heads to Houston, I’m going to hand off the keys to Mariangel Melean, Vice President of Service Region North and Latin America for Compression.

Houston plays a dominant role in the global energy industry. The world’s biggest energy companies, including Siemens Energy, maintain a large presence here. The city has a vast network of pipelines, refineries, and petrochemical plants. The Port of Houston is one of the busiest in the nation, especially for energy exports. Texas is the largest producer in the United States of oil, natural gas and wind energy.

Siemens Energy has been in Texas for several decades and now has 1,600 employees in multiple locations throughout Houston. My first stop here is our facility on Telge Road, where we just completed construction on a new centrifugal compressor test stand.

Construction of the expanded Telge Road test facility began in November 2021, with the first customer performance test taking place in May 2023. The grid connection was upgraded with a new medium-voltage substation and switch gear, allowing the test facility to be powered independently from the rest of the 12,000 square foot campus which handles new equipment packaging and compressor assembly. We also have a service center on Lumpkin Road that spans 130,000 square feet where we enhance performance and extend the lifespan of our compressors.

Siemens Energy compressors are used for moving liquid and gas. They are used in oil and gas pipelines and at liquified natural gas export facilities. In the past few years, we have worked with customers on some innovative uses for this machinery. Siemens Energy compressors are being used at Occidental’s first large-scale Direct Air Capture plant in Texas’ Permian Basin. The two compressor packages will enable the plant to capture up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2 per year when fully operational.

From there, I make a short drive to Siemens Energy’s West Houston Campus where 918 employees representing 22 different nationalities support a variety of our products. The campus is two office buildings and three production buildings including our 40,000 square foot Training Competence Center. The Training Center offers certifications and training for Siemens Energy employees and customers - nearly 1,000 students annually - in various technologies such as laser scanning, augmented reality, virtual reality and additive manufacturing.

My last stop in Houston is our facility in Deer Park, which specializes in engineering and manufacturing services for turbines and generators. This facility serves as a hub for engineering services, repairs, and maintenance related to power generation equipment used worldwide. This site also includes Siemens Energy Field Service Products training facility, which includes full-size mockups of large gas turbines, generator rotors, stators, and steam turbine rotors. We do hands-on training as part of our Field Engineer in Training program there, designed to develop technical skills in gas turbine and generator maintenance and repair.