Are steam condensers the unspoken winners of the clean energy drive? According to a new report on the impact of rising renewable energy, makers of the machines which play a key role in thermal power can expect a lot of change in future.

The global market for steam condensers could jump more than a billion dollars in the next decade, to $3.3billion (£2.1bn) by 2020 after being valued at $1.9billion (£1.2bn) last year, found energy experts at GlobalData.

Oil, coal, gas, nuclear, biomass and solar thermal power all use steam to create energy. The equipment is used not only in power plants, but also in refineries, chemical processing plants and other industries.

Researchers point to growth in electricity demand as well as a push for clean energy which involves ditching ageing coal plants and possibly bringing in more clean gas plants.

With more ‘cleaner’ gas plants such as combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) being built, this could generate demand for steam condensers, suggested the research.