EnBW contracts with GW, Sener and Bonatti for hydrogen-ready gas turbine plant

EnBW and a consortium consisting of General Electric, Sener and Bonatti signed contracts for the Heilbronn and Altbach/Deizisau sites.

The major order, with a volume in the mid-three-digit million range per site, includes the construction of one combined heat and power plant each as well as the respective maintenance and servicing work.

The contracts are being awarded in phases and in parallel with the planning approval process at the sites. The cooperation between the consortium and EnBW required the turbines to be H2-ready, i.e., already capable of generating electricity with hydrogen. Until the necessary infrastructure is in place, the only option available within the energy transition is natural gas to fill the gap in controllable power available at the push of a button at any time of the day or night.

EnBW has launched three major fuel switch projects in the past year to convert existing coal power plant sites in Altbach/Deizisau, Stuttgart-Münster and Heilbronn into natural gas and, from the 2030s, green hydrogen plants.

A total of around 1,300 MW of electricity generation capacity is set to be produced at the two power plant sites. In addition, gas power plants contribute to efficient heat recovery as a by-product of electricity generation.

There are plans at the Heilbronn site to construct a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant with an electrical output of approx. 680 MW and thermal output of up to 190 MW for heat extraction. The new plant will thus also secure the district heating supply in Heilbronn in the long term. Coal unit 7 and reserve units 5 and 6 at the power plant could be shut down following the commissioning of the CCGT plant. The land-use planning process is currently under way at the Heilbronn site. The expectation is that the land-use plan will be presented to the public at the end of 2022. The approval process in line with the Federal Immission Control Act will then take place.

There are plans at the Altbach/Deizisau site to construct a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant with an electrical output of approx. 680 MW and thermal output of up to 180 MW for heat extraction. Two hard coal units at the power plant could be shut down following the planned commissioning of the CCGT plant in 2026. The submission of the approval application to the regional authority in Stuttgart in line with the Federal Immission Control Act is planned for the summer of 2022.

Michael Class, Head of Generation Portfolio Development, said, “In the planning of the power plants, we already foresee the conversion to hydrogen today. This conversion to 100% hydrogen is already predefined through the plant technology.”

Joe Anis, President & CEO, Europe, Middle East & Africa, GE Gas Power, said, “We are committed to supporting these efforts with GE’s industry-leading H-Class gas turbines technology, a key enabler to increase the share of renewables, and to accelerate coal phase-out as we work towards zero-carbon gas-based power generation with hydrogen.”