Ansaldo Energia unveils H2-burning upgrades to gas turbines

In today’s dynamic and fast changing power generation market, gas turbine power plant operators are demanding solutions for their newly installed and existing assets to provide unprecedented and ‘futureproof’ operational flexibility in order to optimize their ability to profit from changing regulatory & fuel switching driven paradigms. With subsidies and regulatory mandates driving the introduction of massive levels of renewable power generation into the marketplace and stressing the grid network, gas turbine power plants are being thrust into the additional role of following and backing up renewable’s inherently volatile generation profile.

Even with the introduction of carbon dioxide (CO2)-free wind and solar power, the European Union and other global regulatory authorities are looking to incentivize continued CO2 reductions from the power generation industry. Inherently discontinuous, conventional renewables are still far from guaranteeing a secure supply, which is why existing gas-fired plants are still bound to play a major role in the energy market as guarantors of grid reliability. Among all combustible gases, hydrogen stands out as an almost perfect combination of storability for long periods and reliability. Being able to burn hydrogen alone or in combination with other natural gases, and to do it safely and efficiently, could therefore make all the difference.

Ansaldo Energia’s extensive product portfolio of lean premix technologies for advanced gas turbine combustion systems has been developed with fuel flexibility as a prime consideration. For example, the latest GT26 F-Class and GT36 H-Class gas turbine equipment leverages the Sequential Environmental (SEV) combustion system platform and has been designed with an unrivaled ability to burn the largest range of NG-H2 blended fuel mixture for new power plants being offered today.

For today’s installed base of F-Class gas turbine power plant operators demanding hydrogen fuel flexibility retrofit solutions to “Future-Proof” their assets, Ansaldo Energia Group offers an extensively tested and commercially proven combustion system for gas turbines originally manufactured by GE, SiemensWestinghouse and MHPS.

Already capable to work in an impressive load range and with still unmatched hydrogen volume percentages, Ansaldo Energia H2 solutions are being further developed through combustor tests already proving 100% hydrogen power is closer than you might think.