Project description
Enabling gas turbines to handle any mixture of natural gas and hydrogen without compromise
Amidst the urgency of combatting climate change, the reliance on fossil fuels for energy production poses a challenge. The EU-funded HyPowerGT project aims to revolutionise gas turbines, ensuring low emissions and fuel flexibility without efficiency loss. An innovative dry-low emission combustion technology demonstrated on the Baker Hughes NovaLTTM16 turbine will enable operation with any blend of natural gas and hydrogen while maintaining response abilities comparable to modern gas turbines. The project will address safety concerns through rigorous risk assessments and analyses, aiming to certify retrofitted gas turbines for up to 100 % H2 operation. HyPowerGT will contribute significantly to the European Green Deal, proposing a concrete market solution that will foster energy transition through its retrofittability on existing natural gas and CHP applications.
Objective
The HyPowerGT project aims at moving technological frontiers to enable gas turbines to operate on hydrogen without dilution. The core technology is a novel dry-low emission combustion technology (DLE H2) capable of handling mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen with concentrations up to 100% H2. The combustion technology has been successfully validated at TRL5 (early 2021) retrofitted on the combustion system of a 13 MWe industrial gas turbine (NovaLT12). Besides ensuring low emissions and high efficiency, the DLE H2 combustion technology offers fuel flexibility and response capability on a par with modern gas-turbine engines fired with natural gas.
The new technology will be fully retrofittable to existing gas turbines, thereby providing opportunities for refurbishing existing assets in industry (CHP) and offering new capacities in the power sector for load levelling the grid system (unregulated power) and for mechanical drives. The DLE H2 technology adheres to the strictest specifications for fuel flexibility, NOx emissions, ramp-up rate, and safety, stated in the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda 2021-2027.
System prototype. The new DLE H2 combustion technology will be further refined and matured and, towards the end of the project, demonstrated at TRL7 on a 16.9 MWe gas-turbine engine (NovaLT16) fired with fuel blends mixed with hydrogen from 0-100% H2. Within this wide range, emphasis is placed on meeting pre-set targets for (a) fuel flexibility and handling capabilities, (b) concentration of hydrogen fuel during the start-up phase, (c) ability to operate at varying hydrogen contents, (d) minimum ramp speed, and (e) safety aspects pertaining to any level with regard to related systems and applications targeting industrial gas-turbine engines in the 10-20 MWe class.
A digital twin will be developed to simulate performance and durability characteristics, emulating cyclic operations of a real cogeneration plant in the Italian paper industry.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.2.5 - Climate, Energy and Mobility Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-JU-IA - HORIZON JU Innovation ActionsCoordinator
7465 Trondheim
Norway