The article provides information about the condition of domestic and global power industries in the context of the thermal efficiency of existing power systems. The work also presents the tendencies of the development of power systems operating at supercritical steam parameters. The article shows basic requirements for advanced structural materials intended for use in power industry machinery and also presents diagrams showing the development of successive creep-resisting steel generations with a ferritic base and of austenitic steels. The article provides approximate chemical compositions of selected steels from individual groups differing in chromium content. Attention is also given to the dependence of welding process technological parameters for joining steels designed for higher temperatures on the chemical composition of the steels and the thickness of components being welded. The conclusion contains a statement that the continuous introduction of new steel grades on the market is accompanied by the continuous use of steels belonging to older generation grades such as steels of 13CrMo4-5 and 10CrMo9-10 grades