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Podcasts

How accurate are advanced computational tools like CFD and FEA? Find out in part II of designing turbomachines with the Myth Busters.

TurboTime Podcast: Designing Turbomachines - Part II

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz discuss the design of turbomachines. They describe the typical design process for a turbomachine, outline the required engineering tools, and explain each analytical tool's function: finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and rotor and blade dynamics. They also discuss how compressors, pumps, and turbomachines were designed before these advanced computational tools existed.

TURBO: Can you describe the typical design process of a turbomachine and what engineering tools are required?

 You begin with what's known as a 1D analysis, then move to a 2D analysis, also called a blade passage flow analysis. After that, you proceed to 3D and conduct some testing before refining your geometry. In essence, that's the aerodynamics part, right? However, there’s an initial step that is often overlooked, which is your own experience. You start your design based on your experience and your existing machinery portfolio. If you’re a turbomachinery manufacturer with 50, 60, or 70 years in the field, you’ve likely worked on various types of machines. Therefore, before designing a new machine, impeller, or expander, you review your existing portfolio; that's usually your starting point. You examine what's closest to your needs within that portfolio to determine if you can build upon it or if you need to start from scratch. Besides the aerodynamic design process, there's also a review of structures and dynamics that runs parallel to your aerodynamic process. You perform aerodynamic design followed by structural checks. Essentially, you assess the solids and dynamics to ensure there’s no risk of failure due to vibration. You conduct these evaluations throughout to avoid potential failures. These are generally well-known considerations. Additionally, a third aspect that often gets overlooked is manufacturability. It’s crucial to ensure that what you're designing can actually be manufactured, as it wouldn’t make sense to design an impeller or a machine that ultimately cannot be produced due to a lack of available technology or machinery. This consideration relates closely to materials, so manufacturability and materials fall into the same category, requiring a review of your materials, coatings, etc., throughout the design process to ensure that your design is feasible for production.

 I’d also like to point out that, as engineers, we don't design these machines out of thin air. There’s usually a use case, a customer, or a market assessment that indicates we need something that fits specific requirements. This could be a gas turbine that produces 20,000 horsepower or a compressor that can deliver more throughput than what my competitors can achieve within a given casing size, and so on. Then, we enter a process where engineering is asked, "Hey, can you guys do that?” Of course, someone also inevitably asks if we can achieve that at a cost that makes the project feasible. Yes, Klaus is absolutely right; this essentially defines the playground we work within. From there, we move from what could be considered a rough draft, using our experience, to increasingly refined concepts. Ultimately, you'll end up with some CFD simulations, and after building the first machine or prototype, there will be some testing to follow.

Do engineers overrely on computational tools? The Myth Busters deep dive into engineering tools, such as CFD and FEA, used to design turbomachines. 

TurboTime Podcast: The Turbomachinery Design Process - Part I

This episode of the TurboTime podcast features an onsite interview from our Turbo Tour of EthosEnergy’s Light Gas Turbine and Performance Center Facility in Houston. Assistant Editor James Cook talks with Daniel Tegtmeier, Director of EthosEnergy's Performance Center, about remote monitoring and operations, the changing energy landscape, and the benefits of remote start/stop and virtual capabilities.

Q: How does remote monitoring keep simple-cycle assets viable in a market focused on renewable energy?

 If you think about a machine built 20+ years ago and its efficiency, it still has a place in the market when competing with renewables. It’s not like it used to be though—these units used to run wide-open, 24/7. They’re now intermittent assets competing with renewables and zero-cost fuels, but once the wind stops blowing and the sun stops shining, that load is gone.

These are simple-cycle configurations, so they can come online quickly and be at 100 - 120 MW in less than an hour. So, you’re going to staff a facility 8,000 hours per year in case they call you up? That’s part of what we do and the justification for remote operations—you need the intermittent load from simple-cycle assets in rapid fashion, but you can’t afford to staff these places full-time.

Q: In addition to that justification, are there any safety improvements delivered through remote start/stop and control capabilities?

 Economics seems to drive most decision processes behind whether you’re remotely operating a facility or not; however, there’s a huge safety aspect. You don’t need people there 24 hours a day around equipment with a lot of pent-up energy, so exposure levels drop dramatically. For the most part, these machines are designed so well and over-engineered from day one that they’re conducive to [remote monitoring].

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Daniel Tegtmeier, Director of EthosEnergy’s Performance Center, talks about remote operations and monitoring. 

TurboTime Podcast: Remote Monitoring with EthosEnergy

In part two of this episode of the TurboTime Podcast, Klaus Burn of Ebara Elliott Energy, and Rainer Kurz of RKSBenergy LLC, discuss surge and choke on a compressor map. They explain where they occur on the map, what happens to the compressor when they operate in these extremes, and about transient operation of a compressor.

Brun explained surge: “On the left side of the map you have surge, and on the right side is choke, overload, or stonewall. The most basic definition of surge is the compressor head cannot overcome the system-imposed pressure, i.e., pressure on the outside on the suction and discharge, and the compressor is not making enough head to overcome that pressure differential. So instead of the flow moving forward through the compressor, the flow suddenly turns around and goes backward through the machine until that pressure balances again, at which point the machine can overcome that head. Then it starts a process again. And that becomes a circular process—you get into these surge cycles, and it's a fairly complex thing.”

Kurz emphasizes that surge is an interaction between the compressor and the system around it, “meaning the compressor by itself doesn't surge,” he said. “If the system forces the compressor to make more pressure ratio than under whatever conditions the compressor is going to make, then the gas thus what it wanted to do in the first place, which is go from the high pressure to low pressure, meaning it goes backward through the compressor. The tricky part with that is on the compressor map, we show what the compressor does. So, the map by itself and that surge line on the map is essentially something you derive from the compressor performance.”

The Myth Busters, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz, talk about surge and choke on a compressor map. 

TurboTime Podcast: Part II: Surge and Choke with the Myth Busters 

In this two-part episode of the TurboTime Podcast, Klaus Burn of Ebara Elliott Energy, and Rainer Kurz of RKSBenergy LLC, discuss compressor maps. The duo explains what compressor maps are, what they are useful for, how they fit into the process, and where head, flow, and efficiency islands fit in.

“In its most basic form, a compressor map is a graphical representation of how a centrifugal compressor behaves,” Brun said. “It's somewhat of an oversimplification because more factors play into it; but overall, it gives an accurate representation of what a compressor does within the system that it operates. A standard compressor map has an X and Y axis. The Y axis has something called head—isentropic or polytropic head. Sometimes you also see pressure ratio or a discharge pressure or a fixed section pressure. On the X axis is flow, and most of the time it’s volumetric flow. Sometimes you see mass flow, but that's not very common. Compressor maps also have a surge line on the left and on the right side of the map you have a choke or stonewall area. And finally, you have efficiency islands, and they correspond to the efficiency of the compressor. Not all compressor maps show them.”

Kurz further described efficiency islands: “Efficiency islands refer to the fact that these maps are three-dimensional, but we can only put them in two dimensions on paper. The three axes you want to display are head, flow, and efficiency. You use the efficiency lines in a very similar way to elevation lines. Also, the coordinates of the map that are directly affected by the compressor aerodynamics are head and flow. You can translate head into pressures or pressure ratios, and you can translate actual flow into mass flow, but ultimately what happens aerodynamically in the compressor is described by head and actual flow.”

The Myth Busters, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz, talk about compressor maps—what they are, how they are generated, and what they are useful for. 



TurboTime Podcast: Part I: Compressor Maps with the Myth Busters 

During this episode of the TurboTime podcast, we discuss digital ecosystems with Jim Nyenhuis, the Performance Consultant at Emerson’s Power and Water Solutions Business. We focus on software, including AI-based software, detection and monitoring technologies, software’s influence on a turbomachine’s life, as well as cybersecurity and potential risks that power plants are exposed to.

Q: How does a digital ecosystem improve operational efficiency, plant safety, etc.?

 Digital technologies allow us to address all those issues. We work with customers to understand what operational efficiency means to them based on their objectives. Plant safety is without question built into everything we do. We want to understand and leverage what the underlying technology can tell us and let that information feed up through the digital ecosystem—how do we understand what's working well at the plant level, how do we identify if there are control problems or if individual pieces of equipment are having issues? A lot of that information is lying within the automation infrastructure, and I don't think we've leveraged that to the degree we want to. We find many customers do not understand the performance characteristics of their closed-loop controls or areas to drive additional improvement, efficiencies, etc.

Performance and control management is another big area that we look at. Our information, such as the automation system, will oftentimes track what operators are doing within the system. In the past, that information was stored in text-based logs, but there's a lot of valuable information stored in those log files that if we expose that information, we can understand how operators are interfacing with the system during different periods of operation, be it startup, shut down, various operating modes, etc., and based on that we can determine where operators are spending a lot of their time.

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, we talk about digital ecosystems, including AI-based software, cybersecurity, and more with Jim Nyenhuis from Emerson. 

TurboTime Podcast: Software & Cybersecurity with Emerson 

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, James Montgomery and John Mason of Rolls-Royce talk about micro-reactors. Microreactors are compact, portable reactors that produce thermal energy, which can be used as heat or converted to electric power. Micro-reactors can be quickly deployed and installed, and when they utilize a responsive design concept, they can prevent overheating and require fewer components, fewer operators, and less maintenance.

Montgomery is the Chief Design Engineer for the Rolls-Royce novel nuclear team in the United Kingdom. He is responsible for the design of the overall micro-reactor plant. Mason is a Systems Design and Integration Technical Specialist working within the Novel Concepts team in Bristol within Future Programs. His responsibilities are around the power-conversion system that goes with micro-reactors—i.e., the turbomachinery that takes heat from the reactor and converts it into usable electrical power.

“Micro-reactors are very small scale, in the range of 1 MW - 10 MW electrical, and that’s compared to a typical grid-supplying power plant that's in the gigawatt range and also with the new generation of small modular reactors that are in the 1/2 GW range, so we're much smaller than that,” Montgomery explained. “We have two potential applications for the microtechnology we're working on in the United Kingdom: The first one is the terrestrial variant for supplying power to different applications on Earth; and the second is the space micro-reactor that has potential applications for the lunar base as part of the space program and, in the longer term, for power and propulsion applications on satellite and deep-space missions.”

Montgomery also explained the process of designing a micro-reactor: “At Rolls Royce, we have a great pedigree in designing complex systems like this, so the first step in that process is to work with potential end users to understand the user requirements and use cases where we can get value from the technology. Then we'll work through the process of preliminary design and size of the plant, understanding what the technology can do and where the technology gaps might be. That then launches us into a technology program to acquire the technologies we need.

“The microreactor plant is really interesting from that point of view because it's genuinely a new product for us at Rolls-Royce as with the rest of the industry,” Montgomery continued. “So, we've pieced together some of our pedigree from the nuclear side and the turbomachinery side that we have developed over many years for aerospace and industrial applications.”

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, James Montgomery and John Mason of Rolls-Royce talk about micro-reactors. 

TurboTime Podcast: Micro-Reactors with Rolls-Royce

In part two of this episode on digital twins, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz expand on the applications of a digital twin, its advantages and limitations, and the integration of AI in the platform.

Rainer Kurz highlighted a best-use scenario for digital twin technology: “If you have large fleets of reasonably similar machines, it’s much easier to set up a system of digital twins for condition-based maintenance where you get constant data flow and are able to advise the users on maintenance decisions. It’s actually a very powerful tool.” 

Brun added his thoughts on modern digital twin integration: “The combination of a digital twin with other technologies such as fleet monitoring, forecasting, and condition-based monitoring provides an opportunity to improve the operation of the machine.”

Brun said he’s seen promising work being done with AI. “I recently read a doctoral dissertation from a university in Europe, which was interesting because AI was able to parse the data and come up with some intelligent forecasting of failures and at least, theoretically, improved the availability of the machine,” he said. “Learning algorithms have been around for about 30 years or so, but they’ve really only gotten good in the last five years. Now we’re starting to see AI make inroads into more complex things like compressors, gas turbines, steam turbines, plants, etc. I have no doubt that we’ll see more of this and better AI, but at this point in time it doesn’t replace any operator and it’s in its infancy.”

Kurz continued the discussion on AI applications: “One of the big promises of AI is guiding an operator through the system he’s operating. For example, helping the right warnings to show up at the correct time and giving him the right information. There is not AI that simulates complex systems, it simply augments the capability of the human to help make decisions.”

In part two of this two-part episode, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz cover the applications of digital twin technology, its advantages and limitations, and pairing it with AI.

TurboTime Podcast: Part 2: Applications/AI for Digital Twins 

In part one of the TurboTime podcast on digital twins, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz offer a simplistic description to provide a background on the technology. “At its very basic form, it’s a numerical representation of what a piece of equipment does," Brun said. "Of course, with the availability of far more data from our equipment and the availability of things like more computing power and potentially some forms of artificial intelligence, you can make these things really powerful. Ultimately, you build a model on how you think the equipment performs and then use data to determine if it really does what it’s supposed to do.

“The idea is to look at the machine and what it’s doing in the field, look at what the digital twin says it should be doing, and then compare to see if something’s gone wrong,” he continued. “Ultimately, this digital twin is supposed to simulate what the machine is doing, it should get input from the machine, it should correct itself over time—so if the machine is degrading over time, then hopefully the digital twin will figure that out.”

Regarding digital twin technology for gas turbine models, Rainer said: “For example, if you have a mechanical and thermodynamic model of a gas turbine where you can determine temperatures at various points of the machine, based on measured data and certain operating conditions, then you can simulate the remaining life of certain components that are limited by stress factors.”

Rainer continued to offer insight on the varying digital twin models within the turbomachinery industry and the importance of good data: “The tendency is moving away from physics-based toward more statistical, AI-based, big data model now. It is really important to understand that unless you have a lot of data and it’s good data, you have nothing.” 

Brun added: “That’s actually one of the big challenges specific to big data that we as engineers face. Data scientists will tell you to give them enough data and they’ll find all the correlations you want, but then you realize correlation and causation are often two very different things.”

In part one of this two-part episode, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz provide a background on digital twin technology and how it impacts the turbomachinery industry.

TurboTime Podcast: Part 1: What is a Digital Twin? 

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Dr. Mike Shepard, Vice President of Aerospace and Defense at 3D Systems, discusses additive manufacturing, including its background as a fabrication technique in the turbomachinery industry, the role of data, as well as the various types of additive manufacturing. Dr. Shepard also addresses the advantages and disadvantages of this 3D printing technology, including size constraints, dimensional tolerance, etc., and advancements he sees happening in the near future.

"The adoption of additive manufacturing has really been growing in the turbomachinery industry,” Dr. Shepard said. “I'd say that's true in a couple of different ways—not just in the new-build environment where you're getting new construction and new designs, but it's also really important in the refit and aftermarket environment—parts, etc. And there are a lot of different reasons, right? You get design flexibility more than traditional methods. However, it's not going to replace things like CNC, but it's going to powerfully complement them. You also get very complicated geometries, which are possible now. And it's easy to incorporate extra complexity like cooling channels for fluid flow. You can also utilize it to combine a bunch of parts into one, which is super advantageous. We've seen examples where people were able to go from 200 components sometimes into one, and you can also iterate very quickly. So, these are the types of advantages that designers really love, On the back end, in the aftermarket/spare parts, it can potentially cut down on your lead time. I think a lot of the people who are listening to the podcast have probably had that experience—where you're waiting a year for a part sometimes, right? So with the additive manufacturing technologies that we have now, you can sometimes get that core metal part in a few days. So that kind of design flexibility and really tightening up your supply chain means that people are driven to pick up additive manufacturing technologies."

Shepard closed out the show with a forecast on the future of additive manufacturing technology: "I think we're going to see a lot of improvements in terms of the throughput of the processes and the economy of the processes. I'm really excited about the work that people are doing in metallurgy; there are these new computational methods you can use to discover new alloys, and you’ll see this more and more."

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Dr. Mike Shepard, VP of Aerospace and Defense at 3D Systems, talks about additive manufacturing. 

TurboTime Podcast: Additive Manufacturing with 3D Systems

Vibration: How to deal with it and how to prevent operational problems and failures.

How Vibrations Affect a Turbomachine's Reliability and Operation

EthosEnergy’s contract with Energia 2000 supports the Dominican Republic-based 420-MW combined-cycle facility set to open later this year. 

EthosEnergy Signs Multi-Year O&M Contract for Manzanillo Power Land Project 

The microturbines will operate in a combined heat-and-power configuration, generating electricity for a wastewater treatment facility in Wisconsin.

Capstone Green Energy Delivers Microturbines, Control System to Janesville Plant

The Kansai Mitsubishi CO2-recovery process extracts carbon from flue gas at the Himeji plant, and the ΣSynX Supervision remote monitoring system collects pilot data.

MHI’s CO2-Capture Pilot Plant Begins Operation at Japanese Power Station

The Flame Tracker Increased Low Gain is more sensitive to low-light environments, allowing it to quickly identify flames and trigger shutdown to prevent damage or explosion.

Baker Hughes Unveils Flame Detection Solution to Monitor Gas Turbine Combustors

Welcome to the ninth edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of May 5, 2025, covers news from GE Vernova Hitachi/GE Vernova, Ansaldo Energia, EthosEnergy, and Baker Hughes.

GE Hitachi Builds SMR, GE Vernova Invests in Saudi Arabia, Ansaldo Forms Nuclitalia, EthosEnergy Signs O&M Contract, Baker Hughes Unveils Flame Tracker

The Province of Ontario and Ontario Power Generation approved the construction phase for GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s 

 at OPG’s Darlington site. Completion is expected by 2030, with three additional SMRs planned for future installation at this location. GE Vernova also announced an up to 

 in Saudi Arabia’s energy transition, partnering with Saudi Electricity Co., ACWA Power, Aramco, and Principal Buyer.

Ansaldo Energia, Enel, and Leonardo founded 

 to study advanced nuclear technologies and market opportunities in Italy’s emerging nuclear industry. The company evaluates mature, environmentally sustainable nuclear power designs for water-cooled small modular reactors. It will conduct technical-economic analyses and outline specific system requirements to select the best possible options and integrate nuclear within Italy.

 for the 850-MW Maisan combined-cycle power plant located near Basra, Iraq. EthosEnergy will oversee plant operations, conduct routine inspections, and perform regular and preventive maintenance on all plant equipment.

Baker Hughes launched an advanced flame-detection technology to prevent damage, hazards, or explosions within gas turbines: 

. It uses improved electronics to enable flame detection in low-light thresholds, so it detects flames accurately in less than 0.025 seconds. This includes low-light conditions like obscured sight tubes, condensation, fouled lenses, and other light-inhibiting factors.

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of April 21, 2025, covers news from Capstone Green Energy, bp, Chevron U.S.A., and TMC Compressors.

Capstone Delivers Microturbines, bp Loads LNG Cargo, Chevron Kickstarts Ballymore, TMC Equips LNG Carriers

The City of Winona ordered two C65 integrated combined heat-and-power 

 and a remote monitoring controller from Vergent Power for its wastewater treatment plant. The new turbines, set to be commissioned by April 30, will replace an existing C65 model that operated for over 15 years and had more than 100,000 hours of runtime.

bp successfully loaded its first LNG cargo from the 

 Phase 1 project, located approximately 120 km offshore Mauritania and Senegal’s maritime border. The cargo, designated for export, was loaded onto bp’s floating LNG vessel 10 km offshore. This loading follows first gas flow from GTA in early 2025.

Chevron began producing oil and natural gas at the 

 in the Gulf of America. This subsea tieback is estimated to contain 150 million barrels of oil equivalent recoverable resources to be extracted over the project’s lifetime. The project is slated to produce up to 75,000 barrels of oil per day across three wells connected to the Blind Faith facility.

TMC Compressors is supplying marine-based 

 to Hanwha Ocean to construct 12 new-build LNG carriers. The company’s compressed air systems are designed specifically for offshore and maritime applications and enable the vessel’s crew to perform on-board maintenance while at sea easily.

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of April 7, 2025, covers news from Baker Hughes, Concepts NREC, GE Aerospace/MTU, Shell, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Baker Hughes Installs Software, Concepts NREC Updates AEDS, MTU’s Fort Worth Expansion, Shell Produces Oil, MHI Completes Refurbishment

 to install its Cordant Asset Health digital solution at 10 chemical production facilities in China. This provides Sinochem’s diagnostics teams with centralized data to minimize unplanned downtime, identify failures proactively, and reduce production losses across the portfolio. Also, Sinochem will develop and scale best practices, apply operational learnings, enhance asset performance, and establish efficiencies at the highest organizational level.

 for its Agile Engineering Design System. The update includes multiple software modules tailored to computer-aided engineering and computer-aided manufacturing; advanced rotating machinery dynamics software, which can be launched in real-time from within AxCent to analyze rotordynamics during the design phase; CYCAL thermodynamic cycle analysis software; and Code LEO, a new computational fluid dynamics code powered by a graphics processing unit that operates 15 - 120x faster than current CFD solvers.

GE Aerospace and MTU Maintenance Dallas agreed to continue GEnx aviation engine maintenance at the new 

. The agreement supports MTU Maintenance Dallas in expanding maintenance variety and Fort Worth shop capacity for customers using GE Aerospace engines. In 2023, MTU Maintenance transferred its maintenance work to the Fort Worth location: a 43,000-square-meter facility with engine testing capable of up to 100,000 lbs. of thrust.

Shell Offshore started oil production at the 

 tieback, located 170 miles offshore of New Orleans, LA, in the Mississippi Canyon in approximately 7,500 feet of water. Expected to produce up to 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, Dover is the second tieback to the Appomattox production hub. The subsea development’s two production wells will be connected to Appomattox via a 17.5-mile flowline and riser.Shell’s current Dover estimates claim approximately 44.5 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Environmental & Chemical Engineering successfully finished the refurbishment of several facilities at its 

: a waste-to-energy plant in Kyushu, Japan. Following refurbishment, the plant attained a 31.86% CO

 reduction rate compared to the lower 17.25% targeted rate. This was achieved by replacing a feeder and boiler piping, allowing higher durability when exposed to lower air ratios. Additionally, the increased power generation made efficient use of waste steam through a denitration catalyst.

Baker Hughes Installs Software, Concepts NREC Updates AEDS, MTU’s Fort Worth Expansion, Shell Produces Oil, MHI Completes Refurbishment 

Welcome to the third edition of the Turbomachinery News Network. I’m James Cook, assistant editor at 

The Turbomachinery News Network, for the week of March 31, 2025, covers news from MTU Maintenance, GE Vernova, Rolls-Royce, Homer City Energy Campus, and bp.

MTU Expands Facility, GE Vernova Launches TM2500, Rolls-Royce Updates Automation, Homer City Uses Gas, bp’s First Gas at Cypre

MTU Maintenance is constructing a new maintenance, repair, and overhaul production section at its 

, supporting a 30% increase in shop visit volumes in the coming years. This expansion aims to improve workscope customization, satisfy customer requirements, and meet growing market demand. The new addition is slated to commence operations in January 2027 after completion.

 dry-low emissions aeroderivative turbine: a mobile, water-free 34-MW power-plant solution with up to 39% efficiency, lower NOx emissions and waste, and the ability to deliver power on and off the grid. It operates on a two-trailer frame that enables easy shipping, on-site flexibility, and a 30-day lead time from contract to commissioning.

Rolls-Royce and the Singapore Institute of Technology

 announced a partnership to develop and improve equipment health and fleet management technologies for autonomous ships, harbor crafts, and vessels with hybrid propulsion systems. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore will dedicate a multi-purpose, hybrid patrol craft for the pilot project: the MPA Guardian, equipped with two mtu Series 16V2000 engines.

Homer City Redevelopment and Kiewit Power Constructors will transform the previously coal-based Homer City Generating Station into a large-scale, natural gas-powered data center complex, leveraging seven GE Vernova 7HA.02 gas turbines to be delivered in 2026. The 3,200-acre 

 will support increasing AI and high-performance computing demand in the PJM and NYISO power grids. Site construction will begin in 2025, with power generation slated for 2027.

bp Trinidad and Tobago began gas production at the 

 project which, at its peak, is expected to deliver approximately 45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The Cypre field is 78 km off Trinidad’s southeastern coast in the East Mayaro Block, with water depths of nearly 80 meters. The total project scope will include seven wells, with the additional three assets scheduled for construction later this year.

, Director of Global and Corporate Partnerships for Texas A&M’s Turbomachinery Laboratory, unveiled several education programs and funding initiatives in the works, aiming to enhance project funding and youth experience on an international scale.

According to Gammon, the Lab is currently developing the Turbomachinery Certification Program to accelerate the education of younger working engineers as older professional retire. Also, he’s drawing support for an Energy and Propulsion Research Consortium to fund projects executed by the Lab’s other technical disciplines.

According to Greg Gammon of Texas A&M, the Turbomachinery Certification Program will educate, accelerate, and standardize younger rotating equipment engineers.

Turbomachinery Laboratory to Drive Young Talent, Diversify Project Funding

TURBO: Why was the rotating equipment certification program created? What are your goals/expectations?

The Turbomachinery Certification Program is just exiting its concept level right now. The idea emerged from one of our Turbo Lab graduates, Dr. Eyad Al-Khateeb, who’s with Saudi Aramco. He brought this idea to us about a year-and-a-half ago, and we began discussing the need for a certification program that would allow for a standardization of competencies across many industries. We’ve noted that there is a need for more young talent in the industry and for these people to be educated at a practical level.

TURBO: Is there anything else you’d like to highlight from a program perspective at Texas A&M?

One of the major initiatives at the Texas A&M Turbo Lab is developing the Energy and Propulsion Research Consortium, which will allow us to execute and fund projects through its members. Professors and students working in thermal fluids and combustion and computational modeling and design will enjoy the same benefits that others enjoy through the Turbomachinery Research Consortium.

B roll video credit: Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications

Greg Gammon of Texas A&M says the Turbomachinery Certification Program will educate, accelerate, and standardize younger rotating equipment engineers.

Turbomachinery Lab Drives Young Talent, Diversify Project Funding

At POWERGEN 2025, Billy Sanez, Director of Global Marketing at SpotSee, spoke with 

about protecting aerospace components, turbines, and other power generation equipment during transport with impact and temperature monitors. The risks during transport are high, but machines may be identified and addressed if operators know where to look.

Impact and temperature fluctuations are major transport-related risks, and Sanez speaks a bit about SpotSee’s monitoring capabilities that allow end-users to deploy maintenance teams for exact fixes.

According to Sanez: “When it comes to the transportation of turbines and transformers, you must be very careful when you ship them. There are some components inside that, when they break, it becomes very expensive to monitor. We bring impact monitoring, the moment it happens, to the end-user so they can find a solution quickly.”

“Temperature fluctuations can have a huge impact on transformers or electronic components, so you need to make sure temperature is maintained,” said Sanez. “If you do not have an active monitoring system, we have Thermax labels, which are irreversible temperature indicators. If a threshold temperature is hit, it gets recorded.”

Billy Sanez of SpotSee also explains how temperature fluctuations may damage transformers, steam turbines, and other power generation equipment during transport.

Impact Recorders Identify Damage During Power Generation Equipment Transportation

Conference Coverage

met with Billy Sanez, Director of Global Marketing at SpotSee, at POWERGEN 2025 to discuss the typical risks associated with turbomachinery/aerospace component transportation and, more importantly, what can be done.

Sanez said: “During transportation, one of the biggest risks is impact. Whether it’s hitting a pothole, being dropped, or sharp turns, it may cause internal damage that’s usually not seen but could be registered through shock monitoring.”

He also laid out the groundwork to further expand asset condition monitoring across the energy and turbomachinery industries: “One of the key things is to measure anything that could create damage to machinery,” said Sanez. “Whether it’s during transportation or on location, it’s key to know when something happens. Knowing when it happened or where it happened allows you to deploy help or send a new [machine]. This ensures on-time and confident delivery.”

Billy Sanez, Director of Global Marketing at SpotSee, addresses the risks of aerospace component transportation and how asset condition monitoring may help.

Asset Condition Monitoring for Aerospace, Turbomachinery Components

Billy Sanez, Director of Global Marketing at SpotSee, addresses the risks of aerospace component transportation and how asset condition monitoring may help. 

At POWERGEN 2025, Boualem Hadjerioua, the Director of Hydro Operations at Mesa Associates, discussed hydropower generation's future and technical details.

According to Hadjerioua, the industry is focused on integrating modularity with hydro turbines, particularly for high-head operations. The Department of Energy is funding much of this hydropower work, including the latest control and head-adaptability innovations from Mesa Associates. However, he said hydropower needs more support.

He identifies two main challenges regarding widespread hydropower buildout: environmental impact and cost of implementation: “Environmental impact includes fish passage, fish population, water quality, and water quantity. The cost of implementation, or construction cost, must have a good return on investment. We look at the cost of energy compared to construction costs over time.”

At POWERGEN 2025, Boualem Hadjerioua of Mesa Associates covers the roadblocks of hydropower buildout, latest tech innovations, modularity, and more.

Hydropower Expansion, Modularity, and Innovation

Hydropower: Expansion, Modularity, and Innovation

Turbo Tour of EthosEnergy’s facility in Houston, Performance Center Director Daniel Tegtmeier offered his insights into the growth and evolution of remote monitoring, its advantages and challenges, and how the company seeks to establish partnerships in all things turbine- and plant-related.

Daniel Tegtmeier of EthosEnergy shares how remote monitoring has grown over the past several years and the advantages and challenges of virtual capabilities. 

Software & Controls

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