Proceedings of the workshop on very high efficiency fuel cell/gas turbine power cycles
The U.S. Department of Energy`s (DOE`s) Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) held a workshop on October 19, 1995, to explore the subject of Very High Efficiency Fuel Cell/Gas Turbine Power Plants. The combination of these two technologies has the potential for enormous synergies in that it offers a solution to two important problems: the low efficiency and relatively high nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) emissions of small gas turbines, and the high cost of small fuel-cell power plants. Small gas turbines, with capacities of less than 10 megawatts (MW), typically have efficiencies in the 25 to 30 percent range. Small fuel cells are predicted to cost $1,000 to 1,500 per kilowatt (kW) when commercially available in the years after 2000. If the early efforts are successful in commercializing these products, the foundation will be laid for scaling up the technology to large-scale power plants. This is important since the combination, at the scale of 200 MW or more, can achieve efficiencies of 75 percent or more. This is significantly higher than other technologies for generating electricity from natural gas. As a result, carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) emissions could also be significantly reduced. In comparison, the best currently available, large scale, combined-cycle power plants have an efficiency of about 58 percent. That level will likely increase to 60 to 62 percent over the next decade, as a result of the Advanced Turbine System (ATS) program sponsored by DOE. The highest efficiencies currently projected for several fuel cell technologies, which are now under development, are in the range of 55 to 65 percent for stand-alone, fuel-cell power plants. The presentations focused on the cycle analysis studies that have been done as well as suggestions from gas turbine and fuel cell vendors on how to arrange these components in practical and reliable configurations. Individual projects have been processed separately for the United States Department of Energy databases.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC), WV (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 239314
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/METC-96/1024; CONF-9510272-; ON: DE96000644; NC: NONE; TRN: 96:003453
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Workshop on very high efficiency fuel cell/advanced turbine power cycles, Morgantown, WV (United States), 19 Oct 1995; Other Information: PBD: 19 Oct 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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