Power Generation Gas Turbine User Group

Keith Watson: Consultant, Corelia

Has over 14 years of experience in the energy industry working with Enron and px Limited and recently embedded within an SSE Project team delivering an Irish CCGT project. Keith has worked in roles encompassing Design Engineering, Maintenance Engineering, Project Management and Safety and Risk Management. This experience has included working within development teams on a number of CCGT/ CHP UK power projects and biomass generators and working in the Middle East on various energy consultancy projects. Keith has worked within operations teams which included providing mechanical maintenance engineering support to a CCGTs and gas turbine based CHPs.

Christer Björkqvist: Managing Director, ETN Gas Turbine

Christer Björkqvist is the Managing Director and co-founder of the International association ETN that brings together all stakeholders around stationary Gas Turbine Technology development and operation. For the past 17 years he has been working with the gas turbine industry and research community and gained a wide experience in gas turbine technology, project management and energy policy. He has been involved and coordinated several EU- and industry-funded projects. Prior to the foundation of ETN in 2005, Christer Björkqvist was the General Manager of the association of European Manufacturers of Gas Turbines for a period of 5 years.

Charles Crossley: Campaign Delivery Engineer, National Grid

I am a Project Engineer for National Grid Gas Transmission which owns and operates 7600km of large bore pipework and 62 Gas Turbine Compressor Units. For the past five years I have managed engineering projects and emergency maintenance at two major UK Gas Terminals and across a fleet of 21 Gas Compressor Stations. Through various roles I have had responsibility for risk management, network reliability, project delivery, contractual arrangements and engineering innovation.

John Booth: Maintenance Section Head, RWE Staythorpe Power Station

John is a Mechanical Engineer who has spent over 20 years in CCGT maintenance,  commissioning and management. 

He is presently Section Head of Maintenance for RWE Generation UK plc at Staythorpe 1750MW CCGT power station, which was commissioned in 2010. 
The site comprises four Alstom GT26 single shaft units and is the sister station to the RWE Generations UK plc Pembroke 2000 MW CCGT, with 5 GT26 single shaft units. 

John has worked for RWE since 2006, and prior to that for two other major utility companies at several CCGTS and CHPs. His work has covered areas including new build, mobilisation, commissioning, major overhauls and improvement projects as well as maintenance and operations. 

John started his career as a student apprentice with British Coal prior to joining the power industry as part of the first ‘dash for gas’ in 1993 and is a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining.

Siavash Pahlavanyali: Senior Turbine Consultant, Edif ERA

Siavash is a MSc/PhD qualified senior consultant having worked for more than 20 years supporting the power and oil & gas sectors. He has extensive experience in gas turbine technologies and has been engaged on many high profile lifing and failure investigation projects for gas turbine operators around the world. Prior to joining Edif ERA Siavash worked for several years as a research associate at Cambridge University  on thermo-mechanical fatigue and oxidation/corrosion testing/lifing works.   He has a good deal of experiences of integrity assessment of gas turbine components for engines ranging from 3MW to 300MW, various technologies of B, E and F class engines.

Clifford Smith: Independent Engineering Consultant, CSGT Consultancy

Starting at Rolls Royce Industrial Marine Division, Ansty, near Coventry, Clifford has had over 30 years experience in the design, maintenance, overhaul and comonent repair of aero derivative, lightweight industrial and heavy weight industrial gas turbines. Throughout this period he has worked for OEMs, primary sub contractors, end users and as a consultant. Clifford's product experience includes Rolls Royce industrial Avon, RB211 and Olympus, ABB GTX 100, Siemens V94.2 (SGT5 2000E), Alstom GT26, Mitsubishi 701F and GE Frame 7 and 9 FA.

A key feature of Clifford's work throughout this period has been the development and application of hot end and cold end component repair techniques in order extend component life and thereby reduce the cost of ownership of gas turbines to the end user. In addition he has been involved with hot end component reverse engineering projects.

Ronnie Glen: Process Engineer, Engineering Centre, SSE

Ronnie is a Mechanical Engineer with a wide range of experience on project development & engineering, maintenance and asset support from over 20 years with SSE Generation.  During a total of 10 years in project engineering, Ronnie worked extensively on power plant refurbishment projects. This was followed by a move to a maintenance role, where key responsibilities included the management of the service agreements and maintenance of heavy duty and industrial gas turbines. He returned to central engineering in 2003, to provide support on RCAs, FMEA, best practice, and evaluation of performance, upgrades and plant improvement options, focused primarily on gas turbine issues, including air inlet system, compressors, combustion systems, and hot gas path. His current role is in Process Engineering, involved in developing new build gas-fired power generation projects for the UK Capacity Market.

Falk Eiserman: Gas Turbine Mods and Upgrades, Siemens PLC

Falk Eisermann is 36 years old and married. He studies mechanical engineering with field of study in construction at Berlin University of Applied Sciences and started his carrier at Siemens starts in 2009. Within this time he worked for different departments within the company. In the first position he worked as Marketing Manager for Modernization and Upgrades for combustion turbines and combined cycle power plants for 4 years. After a change in position he worked as a Project Manager for Frist Time Application and Product Commercialization of Gas Turbine Service Products. His area of expertise is manly at technology and service of Large Gas Turbines with best within Siemens annual combustion frames.

Alan Fitzpatrick: Risk Engineer, CNA Hardy

Brian Foley: Director of Sales, PowerPHASE

Brian has 20 years experience in the power industry, including 13 with General Electric, achieving Six Sigma Blackbelt certification, managing quality, customer service, gas turbine repair and as global sales leader.  In 2009, Brian left GE to work for Power Systems Mfg, responsible for the West Region of the U.S.  Brian attended College of the Holy Cross, graduating Cum Laude, with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. Brian served as an officer and pilot in the United States Navy from 1986-1997. From 1992 to 1994 Brian attended United States Naval Post Graduate School obtaining a Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering.

David Graham: Technical Consultant, Uniper Technologies

David Graham is a Chemical Engineer with Uniper Technologies, working at their Technology Centre near Nottingham, England.  He provides technical support in relation to continuous emissions monitoring, emissions reporting and compliance issues for all plant types to the whole of the UK power industry.  David chairs or is a member of various relevant groups within the European power sector and the Source Testing Association and is involved in standards development.  Before joining Uniper, David was a gas turbine combustion engineer with Alstom for six years and, prior to that, he worked on various aspects of combustion and environmental science with British Gas. David holds a degree in Chemical Engineering, is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and is an Associate of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (AIEMA).

Ian Webb: Head of IGT Product Support, Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Ltd

Ian Webb is Chartered Mechanical Engineer and a Fellow of the IMechE. He works for Siemens and is Currently Head of IGT (Lincoln England & Finspong Sweden) Product Support Service Engineering. Previously Ian was Product Service Manager for the Siemens SGT-400. Following the completion of a Degree and Master’s Degree at Hatfield Polytechnic (now University of Hertfordshire) in Aeronautical Engineering Ian began working with gas turbines in 1996 in Lincoln. Ian’s early career was spent working in Design Engineer supporting Manufacture and Assembly, followed by some exciting years spent in Product Support of the first SGT-400’s sold. Ian now runs a small team of Product specialist support customers with over 7,700 pieces of rotating equipment.

Jake Waterhouse: Director, DEKOMTE

Jake Waterhouse trained with Allen Gears (within Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group) and completed a Bachelors of Engineering (BEng Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Birmingham City University. In Allen Gears he worked as a sales, applications and project engineer for main drive parallel shaft and epicyclic gearboxes. In 2004 he joined DEKOMTE operations in the UK, and is now responsible for managing and developing the UK expansion joint business. Since 2011 has been on the corporate board of DEKOMTE with responsibility for all international business. As a chartered engineer, Jake uses technical ability to deliver specialised solutions tailored to the customers' requirements,

Matthias Fränkle: Business Manager 8000H, Siemens AG

Matthias studied Mechanical Engineering in Karlsruhe with a focus on turbomachinery. 

He started his professional career in 1994 at Siemens in Erlangen in the Reference Power Plant Development group. Matthias shortly joined the commissioning team for the King’s Lynn power station. After the merger with Westinghouse he joined the integration team and was delegated to Orlando in 1998. After his return to Erlangen he took over the product management for various CCPP-configurations. In 2007 Matthias moved to Sales and followed-up on projects mainly in Turkey and Russia. In 2011 he took over the responsibility as proposals director in Siemens Energy Solutions.

In 2016 Matthias became 8000H business manager. 

Mel Owen: Product Manager, InstaKool

Mel Owen has worked in the energy industry for over 40 years. He started as a coal preparation engineer in the National Coal Board before moving to Canada. In Canada Mel worked on coal and mineral projects including the first diamond mine in the North West Territories. Since returning to the UK, Mel has worked on developing intake solutions for gas turbines. He has developed the InstaKool inlet cooling system in response to demands for more power and improved fuel efficiency.

Paul Holland: Power Manager, Advanced Valve Solutions UK Limited

I am a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist working for CNA, an International Insurance Company specialising in Power Generation and Renewable Energy. Prior to this my career spanned 37 years working as an Engineering Officer for Cunard Steam Ship Company an Engineer Survey then Head Office Engineer for RSA. My roles with the insurance companies has had many challenges and rewards but it is working with professional engineers that makes the job so interesting

Alan Fitzpatrick: Risk Engineer, CNA Hardy

I am a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Environmentalist working for CNA, an International Insurance Company specialising in Power Generation and Renewable Energy. Prior to this my career spanned 37 years working as an Engineering Officer for Cunard Steam Ship Company an Engineer Survey then Head Office Engineer for RSA.

My role’s with the insurance companies has had many challenges and rewards but it is working with professional engineers that makes the job so interesting.

Roger Fairclough: Principal Project Leader, TWI Technology Centre

From leaving school I worked in the mining industry for 16 years starting as an engineering apprentice and becoming a production engineer in a repair centre for mining equipment. During this time I attended university gaining an honours degree in mechanical engineering.
I then worked as plant mechanical engineer in a coal fired power station for 12 years, before moving to an alloy steel manufacturer as mechanical engineer. I became chief engineer for the steelworks before moving to TWI as principal project leader in 2004.

For TWI I have been involved in the development of technology relating to additive manufacture for the manufacture and repair of high strength materials.

Chris Robinson: Principal Consultant, MMI Engineering

Dr Chris Robinson is a Principal Consultant at MMI Engineering where he runs their York office. He first joined the company in 2005 and specialises in providing consultancy in fluid systems and heat transfer to clients in a range of industries, which includes: Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Water, Power, Process and Renewables. Mush of his work involves demonstrating whether client’s systems meet the requirements of safety and environmental regulations; Chris has also written guidelines for regulators and industry bodies on safety and operational issues. He gained his PhD in CFD and turbulence modelling from UMIST in 2001.

Sjef Mattheij: Technical Director, Sulzer Venlo B.V

Since 1992 involved in the introduction of many new technologies and process and in several know-how transfer projects as an engineering manager and technical director.

Fields of knowledge are turbine component functionality and condition assessments, turbine materials, turbine component design, turbine- and turbine parts refurbishments and turbine performance analysis.

Sulzer Venlo focusses on providing comprehensive gas turbine services, now offering parts & condition assessments, Sulzer-design replacement parts, refurbishments and complete unit overhauls using our worldwide cooperation network with other Sulzer companies.

This entails understanding and working with the required Quality Assurance and with supportive technology and processes like vacuum precision casting, vibration analysis, failure analysis, Root Cause Assessments just to name a few.