Decarbonisation and carbon intensity reductions for aeroderivative gas turbines

Executive Summary

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Aeroderivative Gas Turbines

Originally developed for use in aviation, our aeroderivative gas turbines are flexible, compact, and lightweight designs that are ideally suited for power generation and mechanical drives in the oil and gas industry. Their high efficiency and fast start capabilities mean that our aeroderivative gas turbines also perform well in decentralized power generation applications. With a fleet of 2,500 installed units, millions of operation hours in different environments have been generated in numerous reference projects. (Power generation in MW(e) / mechanical drive in MW)

AGT Global Footprint

Aeros footprint

Decarbonization

Climate change affects everyone, requiring that we all take responsibility for our actions by reducing harmful emissions. The challenges are to provide everyone with the same opportunity of clean and sustainable power.

Together with our partners and customers, we share the same plans to create a new normal that delivers what matters: safety, efficiency, reliability, sustainability - and ultimately net zero emissions.

Our customers energy transition

  1. UN Climate Change Paris Agreement - Achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.
  2. Net Zero the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere is no more than the amount taken out. 
  3. A total of 196 countries have signed the agreement, 190 have ratified their commitment and only 6 countries have NOT signed the agreement – US rejoined 19 February 2021.

Hydrogen Decarbonization Calculator

Calculate your carbon dioxide (CO₂) reduction and cost-savings potential by running your aeroderivative gas turbines fully or partially on hydrogen.

Talking decarbonization with SE AGT

To support our customers on their path to Decarbonization, Siemens-Energy Aero Gas Turbines is organizing a series of webinars on this topic with our technical experts. ​​

Our goal is to be your information resource and work with you as a partner in your energy transition journey and carbon neutrality.

The first webinar was held on 29th April 2021. 

With Climate Change affecting everyone, we discussed the basics:

  • What is Climate Change?
  • Global commitments to achieve a net zero.
  • Overview of the challenges of supplyinh the increasing demand for power whilst transitioning to a sustainable energy landscape of both renewables and storage of energy.
  • Outline of Siemens Energy's roadmap for decarbonising to achieve net zero.

Open to both our global customer base and extended Siemens Energy regional teams, our audience reached 145 participants from North, South and Central America, Europe, Australia and Asia, which was a great turn out for our inaugural event! 

Our former Siemens Energy  Aero Gas Turbine (SE AGT) colleague James Place is a speaker in this Talking Decarb with Siemens Energy webinar.  While he no longer is a part of the SE AGT family, his narratives remain  the intellectual property of our business and speak the intent of our continued work.

Webinar 1 Brochure
PDF (2 MB)

The second Webinar was held on 22nd July 2021.  

This session focused on reducing carbon footprint while decreasing operating costs. The Engineering team led the interactive discussion, describing how operators could start lowering their emissions TODAY by decarbonizing their plants with solutions using key Siemens Energy Intellectual Property such as re-optimising plant operating profiles, implementing existing product performance (efficiency) upgrades, and package improvements. 

With over 70 external customers in attendance representing more than 40 different companies: operator-specific follow up consultations being held. 

Our former Siemens Energy  Aero Gas Turbine (SE AGT) colleague James Place is a speaker in this Talking Decarb with Siemens Energy webinar.  While he no longer is a part of the SE AGT family, his narratives remain  the intellectual property of our business and speak the intent of our continued work.

Webinar 2 Brochure
PDF (2 MB)

The third Webinar was held on 4th November 2021.

In this session we will be outlining the journey to reducing carbon emissions through the use of alternative fuels. This will cover a variety of electro and synthetic biofuels, as well as the colourful spectrum of Hydrogen: Green, Blue, Cyan and Grey.  We will discuss the impact on emissions from using these fuels, as well as the concerns regarding their market availability and consequential equipment modifications.

In this Webinar you will learn about:

  • Distinctions between carbon neutral, carbon-free, and traditional fuel forms
  • Electro-and synthetic Biofuel choices
  • Impact of fuels upon Emissions
  • Market development and fuel availability
  • Operational flexibility when working with conventional as well as decarbonized fuels
  • Impact and challenges on gas turbine units (combustion, auxiliaries, controls, maintenance)
  • Siemens-Energy's aeroderivative gas turbine experience with alternative fuels
  • Siemens-Energy's ongoing R&D work which invests in this decarbonized future
Webinar 3 Brochure
PDF (2 MB)

In this Webinar, we will:

  • Discuss the impact of Global Carbon Pricing,
  • Provide a brief refresher on fuel chemistry, thermodynamics and Net Present Value
  • Discuss the impact efficiency mods and alternate fuels have on emissions.
  • Review carbon price scenarios for an A35 Gas Transmission, A20 Backup Power Plant and an A65 Peaker Plant
Webinar 4 Brochure
PDF (2 MB)

In this production “Talking Decarbonization with Siemens Energy AGT”, we will feature our interview with National Grid an electricity and gas transmission company operating in the UK and USA, focused on implementing hydrogen blends in their gas lines and transitioning to their carbon neutral future.   They will explain their own decarbonization journey, how they have worked legacy equipment into their carbon neutral plans, and how Siemens Energy is a partner in their journey.

Our continuing aim at Siemens Energy AGT is to keep you informed by providing a forum for you to stay connected to the industry and to our panel of experts available for live questions. We are here as a partner as you consider how to become more sustainable with your equipment today, and how to adapt it to remain relevant in your operations tomorrow.

Meet the Decarbonization Team

Jamie Miller

AGT Decarbonisation Sales Development & Commercialisation Manager 

Cameron Maclean

AGT Decarbonisation Product Strategy Manager

Donald Macdonald

AGT Decarbonisation Solution Engineering Manager

Janitha Suraweera

AGT Field Leader - Applications & Decarbonisation Solutions

AGT Team

Di Hi

AGT Product Lifecyle & Strategy

AGT Team

Emma Goulding

Repair Network Commercial Manager

AGT Team

Mark Scudamore

AGT Head of Product Management

Get in contact with our SE AGT decarbonization experts

Do you have a question or need further information? You can contact us 24/7 - We are looking forward to your online request!

Email: AGT_SDC_support@siemens-energy.com

Innovation

Preparation for an energized future requires advancements across our portfolio. That’s why we’ve emphasized innovation at the core of our business.

Hybrid Solutions

Many gas turbine operators in the oil and gas industry choose to operate equipment in a configuration known as “N+1”; this describes the scenario in which the number of gas turbine engines that are simultaneously running at any given time is one greater than would be required to deliver the load requirement for the installation. The reason for choosing to operate in this way is that should one engine trip, a sufficient power capacity remains amongst the running engines to deliver the entire load requirement for the installation, avoiding a disruption to production. Avoiding a disruption to production can also help to avoid unnecessary emissions, because in some instances, the inability to provide the full required power for an installation may result in increased flaring, or worse still, may require a compressor to go offline resulting in the release of unburnt methane in to the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, operating “N+1” leads to a lower average power setting for each of the running gas turbine engines. This reduces the thermal efficiency of the gas turbines and has a significant effect on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions; the increase of which can be greater than 25%. However, the deployment of a battery for emergency backup power could provide a method of avoiding “N+1” operation. If a battery can be installed that provides the missing power of a single gas turbine for a 30 minute period following a trip, this provides plenty of time for the operator to bring a spare engine online without disrupting production.

The thermal efficiency of simple cycle gas turbine engines peaks at around 40%. If a waste heat recovery system is deployed to generate power from the exhaust heat, the overall plant efficiency can increase to over 60%. In the best case this could reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by a third, which provides enormous potential using existing and proven technology. Waste heat recovery engines can be effectively applied to both industrial and aero-derivative gas turbine engines, with different waste heat technologies being available, each having their individual advantages and suitability for a given application.

Investing in technology such as this now will also prove advantageous if the energy transition forces us towards alternative fuels, because future fuels could be more expensive and more limited in supply than todays fuels, in which case minimising their consumption will be attractive.

Other Technology solutions

Carbon-neutral and zero-carbon fuels represent the final step for gas turbine operators who have completed hardware efficiency updates, optimized their operating profiles, and see economic advantages in moving beyond carbon capture.

Ammonia

Ammonia may offer a path to carbon-free operation for sites with ready access to the fuel and to liquid fuel storage. Ammonia has roughly half the energy density, as well as higher NOx emissions, than diesel but storage and emissions treatment strategies exist in the market today.

Methanol

Methanol offers a 10% reduction in CO2 and a 70% reduction in NOx emissions versus diesel. Both “gray” carbon-emitting and “green” carbon-neutral variants are produced today, with “gray” methanol widely traded throughout the world. Operators converting to methanol operation can switch from the carbon-emitting “gray” variant to the carbon-neutral “green” variant simply by changing their fuel vendor.

Hydrogen

Hydrogen offers both zero-carbon and low-NOx operation. When blended with methane, high concentrations of hydrogen are required to achieve significant reductions in emissions. For example, to reduce a natural gas-burning site’s CO2 footprint by 10% would require a hydrogen concentration of 25% by volume. Access to hydrogen can come from some combination of onsite generation of green hydrogen, splitting ammonia, or receipt of a hydrogen blend into the existing gas transmission lines.

Each operator should consider their specific site’s operating requirements and layout in assessing alternative fuel solutions. Methanol conversions from diesel should generally be economically feasible for backup power stations today while gas transmission lines and peak power plants may consider carbon capture technologies as a stopgap solution until hydrogen economies of scale are reached later this decade.

Siemens Energy AGT offers a variety of solutions and site studies to guide customers on their net-zero journeys.

Turbomachinery upgrades

The overall thermal efficiency that can be achieved from a gas turbine package (and therefore also the heat rate and CO2 emissions properties) is affected by both the efficiency characteristic of each of the individual components, and the conditions at which they are operating. Consequently, the thermal efficiency of an existing package could be optimised by carefully understanding the current hardware configuration and how it is operating, and assessing various upgrade options to identify improvement opportunities.

Power turbines: Power turbines operate within a speed window that is influenced by the driven equipment, and this speed window is typically sufficiently narrow that the power turbine characteristics do not change significantly. Therefore the greatest opportunity for power turbines upgrades to improve emissions and heat rate properties of the package is an improvement in the baseline efficiency of the power turbine. Within the AGT product line, upgraded blades, vanes and tip seals are available for some power turbine variants which give up to 3% increase in PT efficiency, fuel flow and CO2 emissions. The upgrades also increase temperature, power and life capability which can provide more flexibility in the operation, potentially opening up other options for decarbonisation potential.

Gas generators: The efficiency of gas generators is influenced both by the turbomachinery itself and how it is operated. Within the AGT fleet there is a wide variation in the gas turbine operating conditions. Upgrade options for both compressors and turbines are available for a variety of AGT products that can either improve the efficiency at the current operating conditions or can change the power capacity of the engine(s) in such a way that they can be operated in a condition which is closer to the optimum. In some cases the reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions can be significant. There are numerous hardware configuration options that could be considered, and individual performance assessments can be conducted by Siemens Energy to identify potential benefits and which hardware configurations may be considered.

A general overview of current DLE capability and the new DLE development that is being looked at for A35, A20 and A05. Dry Low Emissions combustors produce minimal NOx­ emissions without the use of water injection. Hydrogen-capable DLE combustors gas turbines connected to gas pipelines to continue operations when hydrogen is injected into those gas lines, and without the need for onsite water.

AGT gas turbines have intrinsic capability to operate on hydrogen with existing DLE combustors, and AGT continues to push the limits of hydrogen blending to provide up to 100% H2 DLE capability by 2030.

Why PEMS?

Previously: Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CEMS)

• Active monitoring of flue gas emissions

• Requires new hardware installations and site downtime (exhaust stack sensor installation)

• Requires passing audit test routines

Today: Predictive Emissions Monitoring (PEMS)

• Calculate emissions by performing calculations on existing control system data

• No new sensors; can run via Remote Diagnostics or HMI

Implementation

Remote Diagnostics

• Data transmitted back to Siemens Energy

• Data accessible on mobile devices via MyHealth

• Updates via the cloud

Control System

• PLC hardware installed onsite with control system

• Virtualization via PC

• Updates via onsite visit

Accuracy

• CO2 within 1.5%

• CO and NOx within 8%

• Full operating range

AGT Product Information

Find out more about our gas turbine offerings

In our download section, you can find brochures, technical papers, and more. Or you can contact us directly for specific inquiries.

Brochure

Gas turbine portfolio brochure (interactive)
PDF (19 MB)
SGT-A05 brochure
PDF (8 MB)
SGT-A35 brochure
PDF (3 MB)
SE Sustainability Report 2023
PDF (5 MB)

Articles and Papers

Smaller and stronger
PDF (449 KB)
Offshore SGT-A35 for FPSOs
PDF (3 MB)

Download Poster

SGT-A05
PDF (179 KB)

Do you need further information?

Please contact us either through your regional team, decarbonization email or your local Siemens Energy Sales Representative.