Steam turbines and thermal power plants: Value chain

How Chinese makers came to dominate the world's coal turbines

How Chinese makers came to dominate the world's coal turbines What this tab covers Who does what, from equipment makers to builders, owners, operators, traders and users, with the leading companies at each step.

Steam power runs from steel and alloy makers, through boiler, turbine and generator makers (now dominated by Chinese firms for coal), to utilities that own and run the plants for 40 years or more, with original equipment makers selling upgrades and service.

The chain

Heavy equipment makers (boiler, turbine, generator) Owners and operators Testing, upgrades and service Organic Rankine cycle specialists

Stage	What happens	Leading companies
Heavy equipment makers (boiler, turbine, generator)	Design and forge the boiler, the high- to low-pressure turbine casings and rotors, and the generator. Chinese makers dominate new coal units: in 2025 Dongfang Electric produced about 58 GW of steam turbine generators and 29 GW of power-station boilers, and Harbin Electric about 28 GW and 21 GW. India's BHEL builds complete 800 MW supercritical sets.	Dongfang Electric (China) Harbin Electric (China) Shanghai Electric (China, company claims world's largest power equipment maker by output) Bharat Heavy Electricals, BHEL (India) Siemens Energy (Germany) Toshiba (Japan) Arabelle Solutions (France, nuclear steam turbines and generators)¹³¹⁴¹¹¹⁵²¹⁹¹⁰
Owners and operators	Utilities and coal groups that finance, own and dispatch plants. Coal was still the largest single source of electricity in 2025 at 34% of world generation; in China it was 32.4% of installed capacity at the end of 2025.	Shenergy (China) Shaanxi Coal (China) MB Power (India)⁴¹⁴²⁵¹⁵
Testing, upgrades and service	Performance testing, retrofits and long-term service. Pingshan II's acceptance test was led by Siemens and Steinmüller; Babcock & Wilcox supplies boiler cleaning and retrofit equipment to existing coal plants.	Siemens Energy (Germany) Steinmüller (Germany) Babcock & Wilcox (United States)²¹⁷
Organic Rankine cycle specialists	Package small turbines, heat exchangers and controls for geothermal, biomass and waste-heat plants. Ormat, Turboden and Exergy installed more than 78% of new ORC capacity in 2016-2020.	Ormat (United States) Turboden (Italy) Exergy (Italy) TAS (United States)⁶

Sources

China's Pingshan Phase II Sets New Bar as World's Most Efficient Coal Power Plant POWER Magazine, 2023
Global Energy Review 2026: Electricity supply IEA, 2026
Harbin Electric wins bids for two 2 GW coal-fired power projects in China Enerdata, 2024
The organic Rankine cycle power systems market: Recent developments and future perspectives (Wieland, Schifflechner, Dawo, Astolfi), Applied Thermal Engineering 224 Elsevier (author copy, Politecnico di Milano), 2023
GIGATOP generators Arabelle Solutions, 2025
Shanghai Electric Power Generation Group (company profile) Shanghai Electric, 2025
Dongfang Electric Corporation Limited: Annual results announcement for the year 2025 Dongfang Electric (HKEX filing), 2026
Harbin Electric Company Limited: Annual results announcement for the year ended 31 December 2025 Harbin Electric (HKEX filing), 2026
BHEL: order for 1x800 MW Anuppur thermal power project (stock exchange disclosure) Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (NSE filing), 2025
B&W awarded USD 13 million boiler cleaning equipment and installation contract for Southeast Asia coal power plant Babcock & Wilcox via Business Wire, 2025
GE HA Turbine Snags Another World Record for CCGT Efficiency POWER Magazine, 2018