Energy sector expected to spend $8bln on valves in 2016
Power plant valve purchases will remain at a high level in 2016 thanks to continued construction of new coal-fired power plants in Asia, says a recent market study by the McIlvaine Company.
China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Japan are expected to be the driving forces for the valve market in the region.
Despite the fact that Japan was the host of the original greenhouse gas reduction convention, the country is planning 40 new coal-fired power plants.
However, the country intends to retire its outdated coal plants, so an increase in CO2 emissions is not expected.
The EU is also building new coal-fired power plants to replace old plants with higher emission levels.
In Asia, the need for new electricity and the lack of natural gas are the big drivers for the market’s expansion
In 2016, nearly 50% of the expected $8 billion (€7.5bln) power plant valve expenditure will be by East Asian power generators.
Countries within the North American Free Trade Agreement will be the second largest region thanks to construction of new gas turbine combined cycle power plants.
These forecasts are provided in Industrial Valves: World Market.
Coal-fired power plants are at the top of the list with regard to valve opportunities, for two-fold reasons.
First, more coal-fired power plants will be built than thermal power plants.
Second, coal-fired power requires water management in both the liquid and steam phases, as well as various slurries for fly ash, bottom ash, and limestone for flue gas treatment.
Additionally, there are valves required for the many chemical systems to treat boiler feed water and plant wastewater.
Valve types include pressure relief valves, as well as globe, gate, ball, butterfly, plug, and check valves.
It is estimated that a typical utility-scale coal-fired power plant includes more than 5,000 valves.
Nuclear power is second on the list, with a slightly smaller number of valves per plant as there is no requirement for flue gas treatment or fly ash and bottom ash handling.
Nevertheless, the redundant systems in nuclear power plants ensure a large number of valves on par with coal-fired power.
There are currently 60 nuclear reactors under construction in 13 countries.
Gas-fired power plants hold significant potential for valve sales both in terms of numbers of new plants and in terms of plant complexity.
Most gas-fired power plants currently being built reflect a combined cycle design that includes a gas turbine, as well as a heat recovery steam generator with the attendant valves for boiler feed water, condensate, cooling water, and water treatment chemicals.
These plants operate with efficiencies of greater than 60%, and are now sized 400MW and larger for baseload power generation as well as for backup power for intermittent renewable energy.
The full market study is available here.
