The growth of renewables could open the way for peak-load gas turbine operators to provide continuous transmission services such as system inertia and frequency response, claimed the vice-president of the EUTurbines trade association, writes Vic Wyman in Brussels.
Thomas Thiemann, senior vice-president for energy transition technologies at Siemens Energy, told Enlit Media that gas turbine power plants could be run continuously to provide services, rather than only to meet peak demand or renewables shortages.
“Technically it’s possible,” he claimed, while admitting that his idea of such a market was speculative.
Fossil-fuel plants, which currently provide such services, are being replaced by renewables, which usually cannot provide inertia, for example. Inertia is the energy stored in large rotating generators and some industrial motors, which can temporarily make up for the brief loss of power from a failed generator.
Eric Lecomte, a policy officer in the European Commission, told the EUTurbines 20th anniversary conference in Brussels, Belgium, that wind turbines could provide inertia, but were not used for that.
Thiemann’s proposed approach could allow utilities to run gas turbine plants non-stop to provide services to transmission systems, with a ‘clutch’ being activated so that the plants could also generate power when needed.
“From a company’s perspective it makes a lot of sense,” he added. “It could be there if the utility sees a market for it.”
Capacity as services
Thiemann said that transmission system operators could run auctions at which utilities could bid their capacity as services. He did not suggest a reason for lack of interest in such a market until now, but regulations could be a hurdle in some countries.
Even without such a services market to allow utilities to run plant continuously, Thiemann also saw a strong demand for power turbines as a guarantor of reliable electricity supply, even though generating only when the sun does not shine or the wind blow. And that included running on hydrogen, which he called “a great fuel”.
A services market could underpin electricity supply as more renewables are added to power systems. EUTurbines claimed that its members’ products were important for future energy reliability and sustainability.
“We are linked to sustainability,” said the organisation’s vice-president Javier Cavada, the president and chief executive of Mitsubishi Power Europe, the Middle east and Africa.
Cavada claimed that turbine technology was an important complement to renewables, by providing flexibility and generation capacity: “We are there when solar is not.”
‘We have a problem’
Viola Rocher, managing director of the EU representation of the BDEW, the German energy and water industries association, which includes utilities and wires companies, added that although the loss of up to 3000MW of generation capacity was a problem that could be handled in a country such as Germany, a greater loss would present difficulties: “We have a problem.”
Also, the loss of energy storage capacity, which is increasingly being touted as part of the energy transition, was not easy to replace, said Rocher.
She called for better EU policy to ensure reliable electricity supply, as well as agreement on transmission operating codes. More rules on security were needed, typically covering data sharing, she said.
However, Cavada accepted that the different energy situations in different EU countries, such as in the share of renewables in generation, meant the need for an overall EU rather than national perspective. “We need to look at the whole sector,” he said.
“We need a systems approach that lets us approach our goal,” added Christina Macatee, director of marketing and product strategy at the turbo-machinery company Solar Turbines. She also suggested that carbon capture could prove cheaper than renewables in some cases.
