Caterpillar Inc. has launched a project with District Energy St. Paul to test a 2.0 MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant fueled by different mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas.
The project, supported and partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), will be headed by Caterpillar in partnership with District Energy St. Paul of St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
With preparations started in the second quarter of this year and operations commencing in 2023, participants will design and demonstrate a hydrogen-fueled power distribution and control system in order to evaluate its greenhouse gas emissions profile, reliability, durability, and adoption hurdles. District Energy St. Paul’s distribution system will receive electricity and heat from the demonstration project in order to completely evaluate every part of the hydrogen solution under real-world operational conditions.
District Energy St. Paul is the ideal host for this demonstration, according to Jason Kaiser, vice president of Caterpillar’s Electric Power Division. “District Energy St. Paul is a leading authority on combined heat and power (CHP) systems and the deployment of advanced energy technologies that promote sustainability,” he said. The research will assist Caterpillar in expanding its knowledge in hydrogen-fueled power systems that perform to the highest standards in real-world applications.
For the demonstration project, Caterpillar will deploy a flexible-fuel CHP system comprised of the Cat Master Microgrid Controller (MMC) and a Cat G3516 generator set packaged as a standard, factory-assembled solution designed to minimize complexity and infrastructure needs.
The MMC will manage load dispatch needs while the power system exhibits the performance, efficiency, and emissions characteristics of a hydrogen-powered solution. Using 100% hydrogen fuel, 100% natural gas fuel, or natural gas combined with up to 25% hydrogen, the study will compare how hydrogen and hydrogen blends can be included into a waste-heat-and-power system.
Local Cat dealer Ziegler will provide system maintenance and on-site assistance for the project.
Caterpillar has began offering demonstrator generator sets that can operate on 100 percent hydrogen, including 100 percent renewable green hydrogen, on an as-requested basis. The Cat G3516H gas generator set is offered in North America and Europe with a 1250 kW rating for continuous, prime, and load management applications at 50 or 60 Hz.
In addition, Caterpillar provides power production options ranging from 400 kW to 4.5 MW that may be customized to run on natural gas containing up to 25% hydrogen. Cat has announced that beginning in the fourth quarter of this year, customers will be able to obtain retrofit kits that give blending capabilities of up to 25 percent hydrogen for generator sets constructed on specific engine platforms.
Caterpillar has also begun a three-year effort in conjunction with Microsoft to showcase a power system that utilizes a large-format hydrogen fuel cell to generate reliable and sustainable backup power for data centers. The project is supported and partially funded by the DOE as part of the H2@Scale initiative, and is backed by NREL.
