H2 readiness for gas and steam power plants (GUD power plants)

In the Climate Act, the European Union has committed to being climate-neutral by 2050 at the latest. The German government has already set 2045 as the target for Germany. In order to realise this, the energy supply must also be reassessed. A successful energy transition requires a combination of security of supply, affordability and environmental compatibility with innovative and sustainable climate protection. Hydrogen can, must and will replace the predominant natural gas in many places. With regard to the above-mentioned time horizon, this also means that power plants built in the near future must be capable of climate-neutral operation, i.e. suitable for hydrogen, for example. If these are fuelled with H2 or a mixture of H2 and natural gas, new questions arise, particularly with regard to safety precautions and the technical conditions. TÜV NORD uses a specially developed H2-ready assessment scheme to assess the hydrogen suitability of combined cycle power plants. The starting point here is the concept phase of the construction or expansion of a CCGT power plant.

Combined cycle gas and steam turbine (CCGT) power plants will make an important contribution to the upcoming transformation and the fulfilment of climate targets. In addition to a high level of efficiency and the relatively easy conversion to hydrogen, they have another advantage: energy supplies with a short start-up time, as with CCGTs, allow supply gaps to be filled quickly. This is because the increasing proportion of renewable energies means more and more fluctuations in output due to the inconsistent availability of light and wind. In a climate-neutral energy supply, H2-fuelled CCGT power plants can therefore be used for reconversion to electricity on a larger scale. To this end, newly constructed plants must be H2-ready, which according to the underlying scheme means that they can be operated with 100% hydrogen.

With TÜV NORD's assessment scheme for new and existing gas and steam power plants, plants and systems can be assessed from the early planning phase on a project and customer-specific basis in three H2 readiness levels. Whether on behalf of operators, manufacturers, insurers or OEMs. In this procedure, the assessment limits can be planned individually, are component-related and provide an independent orientation and assessment aid for the future security of the power plant concept. In addition, long-term planning with an average service life of around 35 years protects operations from unplanned downtimes and premature decommissioning. "H2-ready" in the plant construction of a CCGT power plant makes the operation competitive and future-proof on the way to climate neutrality.