Shaping the energy for tomorrow

Dr. Pham Quang Vinh, managing director of Siemens Energy Ltd

Siemens AG’s energy business Siemens Energy has just taken shape, paving the way for the establishment of an independent company rigorously focused on the energy sector. Can you share more about this critical change?

On that day we experienced a pivotal moment in the company’s 172-year history. It was a day to present our vision and take the next step towards a more sustainable world – a day for launching a new and independent company: Siemens Energy. Once separated, Siemens Energy will have its own direct access to the capital market and as an independent, listed company, will be able to sharpen its profile in the competitive environment. As a global leader in products, solutions, and services for the generation and transmission of energy, Siemens Energy will help customers throughout the world master the necessary task of achieving a socially and economically responsible energy transition.

Siemens Energy will become independent at a time characterised by major changes. The buzzwords of climate change, decentralisation, digitalisation, and coronavirus describe a constellation of unprecedented challenges that confront all of us worldwide. At the same time, energy systems around the world are undergoing fundamental changes – the balance of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources is shifting. In addition, around 850 million people are still living without access to electricity. And according to studies, global demand for energy could even increase by around 25 per cent by 2040.

Siemens Energy will be able to deliver answers for the central question of how we can meet the rising demand for energy worldwide and at the same time protect the climate – and do so in an economically sensible way. We are pursuing a clear objective: we energise society around the world and thus enable successful and sustainable growth – that is our promise and our purpose.

Siemens has a very strong footprint in Vietnam, especially in the energy sector. So will this change cause any impact on the company’s operation and its Vietnamese customers?

Siemens AG will remain strongly committed to this business and to supporting our customers, including honouring all existing guarantees and financial commitments, and offering continued support on an arms-length basis going forward.

In Vietnam, we officially became Siemens Energy Limited in March. We’re running business as usual. We continue to render our best support to our Vietnamese customers and remain highly committed to supporting the vigorous development of the country’s energy sector, especially in power generation and power transmission.

Can you reveal some of the major strategies that will be implemented by Siemens Energy, and the plans going forward in Vietnam?

Deeply understanding our customers’ needs and focusing on meeting them is at the core of our being. Our entire portfolio of goods and services has to offer a clear customer benefit. To do that, we need to understand what’s important to our customers, how they make their decisions, and precisely what they need.

Via more intensive dialogue and by bringing the right people together on both sides, we pool our strengths and act as partners, on an equal footing and in a shared ecosystem.

Innovative technologies and business models as well as intelligent service models are prerequisites for success. That’s why we’re focusing all our activities clearly on the transformation of energy systems.

With our technologies, we are responding to the global megatrends in the energy world: digitalisation, decentralisation, and decarbonisation. We are concentrating on how to best manage the transformation of energy systems while making the systems as resilient and reliable as possible.

We are systematically putting these strategic priorities into action. We want to become the most valued energy technology company in the world and the trustworthy partner for our customers. To achieve this, we will build on our strengths and further develop Siemens Energy into a product-based service company that consistently uses the sustainably generated funds from the service business to develop our technology further. At the same time, we will change our structures, processes, and operating models so that they are customer-oriented and effective. In Vietnam, as of 2019 Siemens’ large gas turbines have contributed nearly 9 per cent of the country’s total electricity output with a high availability of more than 95 per cent, thus helping to stabilise national energy security.

And going forward, we would like to introduce the SGT-9000HL gas turbine to Vietnam’s market. It is our latest generation gas turbine with evolutionary design based on the well proven architecture of H-Class and F-Class. In combined cycle mode it can achieve net 63 per cent efficiency, which makes the use of natural gas more efficient and contributes to reducing CO2 emissions. A combined cycle power plant using SGT-9000HL with multi-shaft configuration with two separate generators on different shafts will ensure the plant’s flexible operation, high reliability, and convenient maintenance as well as contributing to better grid stability.

We’ll be ready to shape the future of energy by making real what matters. That’s what we stand for, and that’s what we mean when we can proudly say: we’re Siemens Energy.