Mitsubishi Power and Georgia Power, alongside the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), this month successfully validated fuel blending of hydrogen and natural gas at both partial and full load on an M501G natural gas turbine at Georgia Power’s Plant McDonough-Atkinson in Smyrna, Georgia. The demonstration project was the first to validate 20%* hydrogen fuel blending on an advanced class gas turbine in North America, and the largest test of this kind to date, with the 20% blend providing an approximately 7% reduction in carbon emissions compared to natural gas.
“The hydrogen blending demonstration project at Plant McDonough-Atkinson brings us closer to reaching net-zero goals across the industry.” Mark Bissonnette, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Power Generation, Mitsubishi Power Americas
Georgia Power, the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company, collaborated with Mitsubishi Power for the landmark testing as part of a continued commitment to new research and development (R&D) to build the energy grid of the future and to reduce carbon emissions across its generation fleet, with Georgia Power having already reduced its carbon emissions by more than 60% since 2007.
Also Read: PG&E Joins with Aemetis, Inc. to Officially Open New Renewable Natural Gas Interconnection
The Plant McDonough-Atkinson facility, located less than 10 miles from downtown Atlanta, has served electric customers for more than 80 years and was fully converted to natural gas in 2012 and expanded to power up to 1.7 million homes. It currently operates six state-of-the-art, large-capacity M501G series gas turbines, which deliver high performance and high efficiency, as well as three steam turbines running in three blocks of 2-on-1 combined-cycle configuration.
Mitsubishi Power completed the hydrogen blending on one M501G gas turbine unit with an approximate output of 265 MW by utilizing some results of a project commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan’s national research and development agency. Dry low NOx (DLN) hydrogen blending was successful at up to 20% at the designed 100% natural gas firing temperature, within emissions compliance for the existing air permit, and without impact on the maintenance intervals. The team also confirmed improved turndown by testing up to 20% hydrogen at minimum emissions-compliant load.
Mitsubishi Power provided full turnkey service for this project including engineering, planning, hydrogen blending hardware, controls, commissioning and risk management. Mitsubishi Power partnered with Certarus to source and manage the hydrogen supply. This project builds upon Mitsubishi Power’s hydrogen combustion experience and ongoing hydrogen combustion development for 100% hydrogen DLN combustion at the company’s facility at Takasago Works in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. This site encompasses the development, design and manufacture of gas turbines, as well as demonstration and verification. The company recently announced it will establish a Takasago Hydrogen Park, which started construction in quarter one of 2022. It will be the world’s first center for validation of hydrogen-related technologies. With this comprehensive capability, the company is working toward commercializing highly reliable, carbon-free power generation technologies and products, including tests and collaboration with partners around the world on a path to 100% hydrogen firing for small- and large-frame gas turbines in the future.