Datacentre power |
When the old becomes the new
Using a traditional boiler to drive a steam turbine offers more immediate power to a datacentre than the alternatives Drew Robb
Datacentre developers the world over are desperate to find power to run massive “AI factories.” They have largely gobbled up whatever is available from the grid. When they turned their attention to gas turbines, they ate up almost all of the available inventory for anywhere from three to seven years. More recently, a few developers have had success in the secondary market for used or refurbished turbines. Gas engines, fuel cells, battery energy storage systems (BESS), are also enjoying strong orders, and, looking to the longer term, there’s growing interest in small modular nuclear power plants. “Overall power demand is rising rapidly, driven by the explosive growth of datacentres and AI workloads, as well as broader electrification across society,” said Arndt Zimmermann, Vice President Sales of the Steam Turbine and Generator Business, Siemens Energy.
As the order books filled up and lead times lengthen, a few smart developers have turned their attention to an old and largely neglected way of offering power: using a traditional boiler to feed steam to a steam turbine. This approach is widely used by many sectors of industry. It has been around for more than 100 years and can trace its origins back to Charles Parsons in the nineteenth century and perhaps even further back, to James Watt.
But if it works, it works. And with lead times for boilers and steam turbines much shorter than for gas turbines, at least for now, suppliers have developers knocking on their doors demanding boilers and steam turbines.
Siemens Energy orders
One beneficiary has been Siemens Energy. Like many gas turbine OEMs, it has experienced a surge of orders for its gas fuelled machines. From large HL models of nearly 600 MW to the SGT-800 of up to 62 MW, its entire gas turbine portfolio is in high demand.
Its steam turbines, too, are now attracting interest from large datacentre developers as well as hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. One contender is Siemens Energy’s SST-700/900 steam turbine, which has a power output of up to around 250 MW.
“We are seeing rising interest in deploying steam turbines across many different applications,” said Zimmermann. “This includes deploying steam turbogenerators paired with natural gas fired boilers, which offers a viable pathway to bring new power generation online.”
The Siemens Energy SST-800 steam turbine is enjoying popularity in a new application: combination with a packaged boiler to generate power for datacentres. Image: Siemens Energy
Siemens Energy’s steam turbogenerator business includes manufacturing facilities in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Zimmerman noted that this gives the company the flexibility to balance production loads across regions and meet any sudden upswing in steam turbine orders. Lead times vary from unit to unit and depend on project specifics. It typically takes more than a year to make a steam turbine. Predictably, smaller units (50 MW or less) have the shortest manufacturing time, while bigger ones take longer to build, test, and deploy.
Pairing steam turbines with boilers The other element is the packaged boiler. Rentech Boiler Systems of Abilene, Texas, has typically offered boilers for industrial applications or heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) for power generation. But more recently, there have been increasing numbers of datacentre enquiries. “Datacentres are attracted to the simple and proven method of power generation provided by natural gas fuelled boilers and steam turbines,” said Gerardo Lara, Vice President of Boiler Sales at Rentech Boiler
Siemens Energy SST-700/900 steam turbine. From left to right: water cooled condenser (the large blue cylindrical vessel); LP steam turbine; generator (in a white box); gearbox (grey); HP steam turbine. Image: Siemens Energy
22 | October 2026 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
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