Hydrogen Co-Firing Demonstration at Georgia Power’s Plant McDonough: M501G Gas Turbine

As carbon reduction goals are being established worldwide with various target dates ranging from reductions by typical timeframes around 2030 to net-zero by 2050, the power industry is anticipated to lead the charge in reduction while having great demand placed from other industries. Many pathways to carbon-free power must be considered, as a portfolio will be necessary to keep energy costs low while keeping high reliability and widespread availability. As a subset, the gas turbine power industry is extremely interested in hydrogen as an alternative fuel to natural gas as a means of reducing, and eventually eliminating, CO₂ emissions. Tests, up to full-scale demonstrations, are now being executed to further industry knowledge on co-firing natural gas with increasing levels of hydrogen. Challenges with blending high enough levels of hydrogen to make significant reductions of CO₂ emissions will be numerous. This paper serves to provide information around the gas turbine performance, emissions, and emissions compliant load range effects of hydrogen on a Mitsubishi Power Advanced Class M501G gas turbine. The results of the testing are reviewed in the context of near-term needs such as operational flexibility with renewable penetration and the future energy transition considerations, particularly energy storage. The energy transition and the role of hydrogen in that transition has been mostly based on projections and small-scale testing. This paper provides additional practical information of the influence hydrogen has on gas turbine combustion and specifically the impact of hydrogen blending with natural gas on a large, modern high efficiency combined cycle power plant. Results of the testing provide needed and positive information on near-term and future energy transition needs. The results provide information valuable to the industry around operability and emissions expectations with hydrogen fuel usage.