A low emissions Titan 130 SoLoNOx solar gas turbine has been successfully tested by GRTZgaz Germany, OGE, and Solar Turbines as the primary mover on a natural gas compressor using hydrogen blending rates of up to 25%.

Natural gas obtained from the pipeline system is typically used to power these gas turbines.

For this project, Solar Turbines, an American gas turbine manufacturer and wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar, has partnered with the gearbox system operators GRTgaz Germany and OGE. The MEGAL compressor station in Waidhaus is where the experiments were conducted (Bavaria). Open Grid Europe (51%) and GRTgaz Germany jointly own MEGAL (49 percent).

The project’s preparations began two years ago when a temporary hydrogen source and a mobile blending facility the size of a 40-foot ISO shipping container were set up for the testing. An impartial expert accepted tested the entire setup and gave it the go-ahead for use in compliance with the policies and guidelines governing the provision of public energy. It was essential to maintain the compressor station’s availability and safety during these testing.

The gas turbine was thoroughly tested with various H2 blending rates under varying loads using solely green hydrogen. Measurements of emissions and turbine performance showed that the turbine could run on the same amount of electricity while still producing the appropriate amounts of emissions.

More than 200 hours of the demonstration’s more than six-week duration were spent using the H2 mixture. Also, it was shown that the gas turbine could safely start using the fuel blend.