Forgemasters wins funding for £2.7m turbine research project

The regional development agency has approved a grant of up to half the project cost to help fund the development of generator and turbine rotors at the firm's newly-created research and development facility on Brightside Lane in Sheffield.

Current orders for these forgings stretch beyond 2011 due to the continuing demand for fossil-fuelled power stations.

The forgings, which typically weigh between 75-95 tonnes, have to meet very specified and refined standards to operate in extremely high tempera- tures.

The two-phase project, with funding matched by SFIL, will focus on the cleanliness of the steelmaking process through innovative technology plus research and development into ingots and forging, opening up access to markets valued in excess of 200m per year.

Dr Jesus Talamantes-Silva, who has just been promoted to group research and development director at Forgemasters, said: "The process will enable us to produce a much higher consistency of finished product which will result in greater manufacturing efficiency."

Dr Talamantes-Silva added: "The first stage of the project requires fundamental research of the steelmaking process in order to explore the possibilities of implementing innovative technology. This is unique in this type of manufacturing process and will give SFIL a significant advantage against competition by dramatically improving steel cleanliness.

"The second stage of the project will concentrate on ingot and forging research and development.

"This will involve computer simulations to develop the most suitable technology in terms of ingot and forge tooling to manufacture these types of larger rotors."

Alex McWhirter, Yorkshire Forward's assistant director of business, added: "In our role as the region's development agency we understand that research and development is crucial to a company's success and in order for them to develop and grow their business with new and impro-ved products and processes."

SFIL has also been investigating with various customers the market for turbine units for nuclear application.

The announcement is not part of the company's planned programme of investment worth 140m to pay for a massive new 15,000-tonne forging press, which was recently announced.