Turbowinds (Belgium)

Abstract Within the context of an ever-increasing share of wind, solar and emerging tidal power, the need to store energy, not only on the short term, but also in the medium to long-term to balance out the power grid will become more important in the near future. One of the most promising routes for this mid- to long term storage, is to produce hydrogen through electrolysis using excess electricity and store it. Instead of using this hydrogen then to generate electricity in a conventional, large, power plant, a more efficient route is to use it in a Decentralised Energy System (DES) using micro Gas Turbines (mGTs). Although the mGT presents itself as a promising option to convert pure hydrogen into electricity in this DES framework, several challenges, linked to the necessary increase of Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT) for efficiency increase to make the unit compatible and the use of pure hydrogen in the combustor, still need to be overcome. In this paper we present the first steps towards a fully hydrogen fuelled mGT. Firstly, a full thermodynamic cycle analysis was performed to determine the optimal operating parameters, such as compressor pressure ratio and mass flow rate, air-to-fuel ratio and TIT. Secondly, a full CFD design and optimisation of the compressor and the combustion chamber was performed (steady and transient RANS and LES). CFD simulations of the compressor and combustion chamber matched the 1D performance calculations and also reached the desired performance goals. This CFD supported validation of the component performance shows that the design of a pure hydrogen combustion chamber for mGT applications is possible.