Biofuels like biogas, biodiesel, bio-methanol and bioethanol are beside hydrogen important decarbonized fuels and part of our gas turbine R&D roadmap at Siemens Energy. Shift to operation of new greener fuels can be done in new and already existing gas turbines without any major adaptations.
- Biogas is suitable where existing gas infrastructure is in place and can be blended with natural gas in a transitional phase. Flexible mixing of hydrogen with biogas also strengthens the gas turbine competitiveness as it allows the installed gas turbines to operate also when hydrogen is expensive.
- Liquid biofuels are suitable for back up or peaking applications, especially where no gas infrastructure is in place, like in remote applications and island grids. Liquid biofuels can also be a backup fuel to natural gas, hydrogen or biogas. That way, the storage capacity for the gas can be dimensioned for the normal operational profile, while liquid biofuel can be available for more unusual events and provide an alternative in cases of interruption of gas supply.
Flexible Combined Heat and Power plants with gas turbines operated on hydrogen or biofuels can both provide efficiencies over 90% and the needed flexibility to the electricity sector.
Another advantage with gas turbine plants is that they can be situated in proximity to larger cities and provide district heating or back up also in times when transmission of renewable electricity to the cities is insufficient or not working properly.
