The Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub draws solar power from a nearby FPL site, using electrolysis to produce hydrogen.

The hydrogen produced will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at FPL’s Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, a 3-on-1 combined-cycle plant with a capacity of approximately 1622 MW.

FPL has said a 5% blend of hydrogen will initially be tested in one of the three natural gas combustion turbines on site.

The utility called the hub an important pilot project that allows FPL “to learn more about clean fuels and their potential benefits to customers.”

Florida Power & Light aims to fully decarbonize its power generation assets by 2045.

While a portion of the solar energy will flow directly to the grid, the rest will power a series of electrolyzers. The hydrogen produced will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at FPL’s Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, a 3-on-1 combined-cycle plant with a capacity of approximately 1622 MW.

All of the components together make up what FPL calls its “Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub.” Construction of the facility is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

FPL said a 5% blend of hydrogen will initially be tested in one of Okeechobee Clean Energy Center’s natural gas combustion turbines.

The utility aims to fully decarbonize its power generation assets by 2045.

“What we discover could eventually help us hedge against the volatility and cost of fuel,” said Tim Oliver, vice president of development at FPL. “This is about creating more options for affordable and clean electricity for Florida.”

Florida Power & Light (FPL) said 10 new solar farms came online January 31.

The facilities combined can generate 745 MW and are scattered throughout the Sunshine State.

Notably, FPL said the Cavendish Solar Energy Center – located in Okeechobee County – will help power the electrolysis process to produce hydrogen. FPL’s Cavendish NextGen Hydrogen Hub is expected complete by the end of 2023.

The utility said the hydrogen produced will be compressed, stored and mixed into existing natural gas infrastructure at FPL’s Okeechobee Clean Energy Center, a 3-on-1 combined cycle plant with a capacity of approximately 1622 MW.

The new solar facilities are:

·       FPL Chipola River Solar Energy Center (Calhoun County)

·       FPL Flowers Creek Solar Energy Center (Calhoun County)

·       FPL Anhinga Solar Energy Center (Clay County)

·       FPL First City Solar Energy Center (Escambia County)

·       FPL Apalachee Solar Energy Center (Jackson County)

·       FPL Everglades Solar Energy Center (Miami-Dade County)

·       FPL Cavendish Solar Energy Center (Okeechobee County)

·       FPL Blackwater River Solar Energy Center (Santa Rosa County)

·       FPL Pink Trail Solar Energy Center (St. Lucie County)

·       FPL Bluefield Preserve Solar Energy Center (St. Lucie County)

FPL – a NextEra Energy subsidiary – now has 60 solar energy centers installed statewide.

Two GE 7HA.03 gas turbines are now operating at Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) Dania Beach Clean Energy Center near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It’s the first time the 7HA.03 turbines – the largest 60Hz turbines and most efficient in GE’s fleet – are commercially operable worldwide.

GE said the new air-cooled turbines are part of a plant modernization effort that is resulting in a 70% emissions reduction. Dania Beach Clean Energy Center is now generating up to approximately 1,260 MW.

GE secured FPL as a customer for the project back in 2019, around the time it launched the 7HA.03 turbine. The utility planned to spend $880 million on the project, we reported at the time.

The 7HA.03 pulls much of its design from decades of overall HA experience. However, it does include the first adoption of GE’s DLN 2.6e combustion system on its 60Hz gas turbine line. Another innovation is a larger titanium R1 blade to enable greater volume of airflow and output.

The 430 MW model has a 75 MW-per-minute ramp rate, 64% net combined-cycle efficiency and can turn down to 30% load while staying within emissions compliance, according to GE.

The company said this was validated at GE’s Test Stand 7 in Greenville, South Carolina, in parallel with the installation of the gas turbines at Dania Beach. GE said it validated the turbine control system settings and provided the adjustments to system software for improved turbine operability and reliability.

FPL said it believes that the turbines – at Dania Beach and elsewhere – may be fueled by hydrogen with some modifications. The utility is currently developing a pilot project to test the use of green hydrogen to replace a portion of the natural gas at its power plant in Okeechobee County, Florida – which also uses GE turbines.

GE said its 7HA.03 gas turbine has the capability to burn up to 50% by volume of hydrogen when blended with natural gas.

FPL’s Dania Beach property has been the site of power generation for 90 years. It hosted the first power plant in FPL’s system, beginning operations in 1927. The plant was modernized in the 1950s and again in the 1990s, according to FPL.

The Microgrid Control Lab features control center equipment and software that UCF engineering faculty and students will use to gain hands-on experience.

“The Microgrid Control Lab provides unprecedented access to a modern grid control center that enables some of the brightest young minds in the country to collaborate, learn and help reimagine the energy grid of tomorrow,” said Jim Walsh, General Manager of GE Digital’s Grid Software business. “As renewable energy sources, like solar, continue to expand and evolve, the technology behind the grid has to keep up. It is critical that electrical and computer engineering talent have real-life experiences with the hardware and software than underpins the modern grid helping utilities securely deliver reliable clean energy.”

FPL and GE Digital employ more than 400 UCF alumni, the companies said. Currently, more than 1,400 undergraduate and graduate students at the university are studying electrical or computer engineering.

GE Digital also announced a new internship program offering UCF students experience in the utilities and power sectors.

“This new facility is exactly the kind of strategic partnership that makes UCF a premiere choice for students with future-focused career goals. GE Digital and FPL have been both philanthropic investors and design collaborators in this lab, ensuring our students in this field will be industry-ready on day one of their careers,” UCF President Alexander Cartwright said. “It’s a win-win. Our students get a leading education in a lab environment, and both companies open up a pipeline of incredible talent for their workforce.”

The 74.5-MW Rodeo solar project is FPL’s fifth solar energy center in DeSoto County, tops in the state for the utility. Rodeo Solar Energy Center comprises approximately 300,000 panels and marks the completed development on land FPL originally purchased in the 1960s. 

DeSoto County served as a launching pad for FPL’s solar investments with the 2009 construction of the FPL DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center. At 25 MW and about 90,000 panels, DeSoto Next Generation was the largest of its kind in the nation at the time and was commissioned by former President Barack Obama. DeSoto County has served as an innovative hub for FPL’s clean energy ideas and investments ever since.

“For more than a decade, FPL has been on a mission to turn the Sunshine State into a leader in clean energy and sustainability, and so much of it has been anchored in DeSoto County,” said FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy. “But DeSoto County isn’t just home to millions of solar panels — it’s also a hub for clean energy innovation. Every time FPL has decided to disrupt the status quo, push the limits or test new ideas, DeSoto County has shown up as an eager partner. The FPL Rodeo Solar Energy Center may be the last solar center on this site, but we hope it’s just the beginning of many more innovative projects to come.”

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Rodeo Solar Entergy Center also is the second project built to support the utility’s FPL SolarTogether program for community solar.

In 2016, FPL was able to build three more solar energy centers in Florida, one of which was the FPL Citrus Solar Energy Center, built on the same site as the DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center. At 74.5 MW, each one of the three centers were three times the size of the first and still cost less to build. FPL built its Wildflower and Cattle Ranch solar energy centers in 2018 and 2020 respectively, making DeSoto County home to a total of four solar energy centers at the time.

“FPL has been a wonderful friend to this community, and it’s been a thrill to watch their clean energy transformation unfold right before our eyes in DeSoto County,” said DeSoto County Commissioner J.C. Deriso. “When our journey began in 2009, we couldn’t have dreamed our legacy would kick off such a rapid solar expansion across the state, or that this county would be home to five solar energy centers and more than a million solar panels. I don’t know what the future holds, but I hope DeSoto County continues to be at the center of clean energy innovation.”

FPL is a subsidiary of NextEra Entergy.

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Utility-scale and community solar are growing tremendously and will be a key part of content at POWERGEN International event planned Jan. 26-28 in Dallas. The POWERGEN Call for Speakers is still open and seeking submissions for tracks such as Decarbonization, Digitalization, Energy Storage Breakthroughs, the Future of Electricity, Hydrogen: What’s New, Optimizing Plant Performance, the New Energy Mix (on-site power) and Trends in Conventional Power. Click here to see more and submit a session idea.

This is according to a new report by BloombergNEF. The research wing of media giant Bloomberg is focused on next-generation energy technologies which also reduce carbon emissions.

Hydrogen can be a zero-carbon substitute for fossil fuels. Companies such as Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS), GE, Siemens and Ansaldo Energia already are working on programs to blend hydrogen into their turbine fuel mixes.

In fact, the BNEF report says, clean hydrogen deployment could cut about one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions from generation,  heavy duty transportation and industrial manufacturing such as steel making. The concept of clean or green hydrogen requires that renewables such as wind or solar power the electrolysis plants which would create the hydrogen by separating that molecule from water.

 “Hydrogen has potential to become the fuel that powers a clean economy. In the years ahead, it will be possible to produce it at low cost using wind and solar power, to store it underground for months, and then to pipe it on-demand to power everything from ships to steel mills,” Kobad Bhavnagri, head of industrial decarbonization for BNEF and lead author of the report, said in a statement.

This vision will not come cheap. Bhavnagri’s report estimates that a hydrogen scale-up would require close to $150 billion in subsidies on the global level. It also factors in a cost applied to carbon such as a tax or allowance policy.

If these policies are put in place, the BNEF report suggests that renewable hydrogen could be produced at between 80 cents to $1.60 per kilogram in most of the world by 2050. That production cost is equivalent to natural gas priced at between $6 to $12 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), according to the report.

Such a price would be competitive with current natural gas prices in Brazil, China, India, Germany and Scandinavia. The cost of electrolyzer technology–which splits water in hydrogen and oxygen components­–has fallen by 40 percent in the past five years, according to BNEF.

Hydrogen does have its competitive challenges elsewhere. For one, U.S. natural gas is abundant and currently costs below $2 per mmBtu in several markets, according to reports. Companies are building liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals along the U.S. coasts for future delivery to global customers.

Storing and transporting hydrogen also is financially challenging. The BNEF report calculates that an infrastructure investment in storage might cost around $637 billion by 2050.

Putting a price on carbon would help in steel, cement and chemicals production, too. Many countries, particularly in Europe, have a carbon tax policy but the U.S. does not.

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Want to read more stories on hydrogen in Power Engineering? Click here.

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Numerous European business leaders have expressed support for the notion of a hydrogen-based industrial economy. Marco Alverà¡, CEO of Italian energy infrastructure firm Snam, has said that existing gas infrastructure networks and that hydrogen can be blended into gas-fired power generation at relatively small investment up front.

“Europe can turn the hydrogen revolution into a reality and make it affordable for consumers and industry worldwide, while also reaping the industrial benefit of climate leadership,” Alverà¡ wrote in an op-ed to the London-based Financial Times.

In the U.S., MHPS recently was awarded a contract by Intermountain Power Agency to supply two of its M501JAC gas-fired turbines for a long-term hydrogen transition project in Utah. The M501JACs will utilize a 30-percent mix of hydrogen in only five years, with the long-term goal to burn 100 percent by 2045.

A Japanese consortium including Toshiba and Iwantani Corp. is working together on a renewable energy-powered 10-MW class hydrogen production unit. The FH2R project is under construction in the Fukushima Prefecture region.

(Rod Walton is content director for Power Engineering and POWERGEN International. He can be reached at 918-831-9177 and rod.walton@clarionevents.com).

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Hydrogen and nuclear will be both be part of the content in the Lowering Carbon with Thermal Generation track at POWERGEN International happening December 8-10 in Orlando, Florida.

It’s enough to keep utility executives awake at night.

Power sector transformation is a nice catchphrase, but it’s a time-consuming, thorny and irresistible matter for those who must keep the electricity running. Commonwealth Edison President and COO Terry Donnelly visited with Power Engineering recently to discuss some of these timely challenges.

Donnelly grew up in a utility family and has spent a large part of his career with the company. He has been president since 2018.

ComEd, a Chicago-based utility within the Exelon Corp. family, is Illinois’ biggest electricity provider with more than 4 million customers. It takes its power from the competitive PJM market.

Eight years and about $2.6 billion later, ComEd has nearly completed the first phase of its grid modernization plan. Those improvements include advanced metering infrastructure, T&D upgrades and next-gen control technologies.

The result, he said, is eight consecutive years of performance improvement on metrics such as outage duration, outage frequency and energy efficiency while incorporating more and more carbon-free energy, whether it’s nuclear or renewables.

It’s been successful, but it ain’t been busy.

“We’re trying to transform a power grid, especially one as complex and vast as ComEd…and trying to do that while it’s working,” Donnelly told Power Engineering. “You are arm wrestling and investing that energized grid into the future.”

Keeping the lights on while inviting a rising portion penetration of renewables and combating weather changes requires real-time situational awareness, which in turn requires a whole new set of digital tools from what Donnelly’s forebearers possessed.

“We’ve improved reliability 70 percent, and 2019 was the best on record,” he noted. Even so, the system still requires countless upgrades for poles and wires to withstand a more dramatic weather environment.

This is one way that ComEd is looking into the future, Donnelly said. Others include investing in next-gen, decentralized energy options such as microgrids and, perhaps more importantly, putting stock in the next generation of a potential workforce.

For the latter, ComEd offers numerous Chicago-area programs reaching out to all students, with special emphasis on STEM education for minorities and women. The company offers a Solar Spotlight, an Icebox Derby solar-powered race, the Dawson Tech training program for future linemen and an energy academy at Dunbar Vocational High School in the Bronzeville neighborhood.

“It’s absolutely critical,” Donnelly said, noting the “premium on having a workforce development program in line with the suite of technology investments.”

And it’s not just serendipity that ComEd has placed its truly unique Bronzeville Microgrid Cluster project in that area. Bronzeville, a collaborative effort including U.S. Department of Energy support and the Illinois Institute of Technology, has several microgrids which will be ultimately connected with an array of utility-owned energy storage, utility-scale and rooftop solar, as well as on-site power.

The microgrid is an intriguing concept to mission-critical services such as public safety and hospitals, but it is not without significant headwinds both in financial and technical feasibility terms. ComEd and Illinois Tech are achieving significant progress with their microgrids and also dealing with the challenges.

Phase two is coming with the promise of full islanding capabilities, Donnelly noted. Islanding allows electrical service to continue within a microgrid even if the utility system is otherwise down or disconnected.

And this is where the roads of grid advancement and community outreach intersect each other. Having a microgrid cluster in Bronzeville provides a “living laboratory” for cutting-edge electricity technologies that is accessible to young students interested in STEM careers.

ComEd is learning more about microgrid interaction even as students are. Donnelly is good with that.

“They can’t be just technical investments anymore,” he said. “They have to be in the community where you’re hoping to nurture the benefits of technology.”

(Rod Walton is content director for Power Engineering and POWERGEN International happening December 8-10 in Orlando, Florida. He can be reached at 918-831-9177 and rod.walton@clarionevents.com).

All of those above statements are clichés, of course, spoken at many a conference by many a speaker looking for a cohesive theme. They are also clichés because they are true.

POWERGEN International has been around more than 30 years not because of the genius of its planners, but due to the contributions of its core audience. POWERGEN’s call for abstracts is a key element of the event that allows power generation leaders to show what works, what didn’t and why teamwork almost always wins the day.

And now the deadline has been extended to March 4.

Click here to see what POWERGEN is seeking in terms of content for the event happening December 8-10 in Orlando, Florida. The call for abstracts wants case studies, utility projects, lessons learned and best practices earned the hard way in power plant performance, gas-fired turbine technologies, digital transformation, energy storage, wind, solar, hydro, coal-fired generation, nuclear and on-site power.

Video: Mark Barton, a Public Service Co. of Oklahoma power plant manager and member of the POWERGEN advisory committee, talks about coal-fired power and conversion projects during POWERGEN 2019 in New Orleans.

Those who are selected by our advisory committee will be able to present their projects at a conference which draws more than 10,000 attendees from utilities, OEMs and suppliers from around the globe.

Last year, representatives from more than 30 utilities and some of the world’s biggest manufacturing, EPC and equipment firms were among the speakers at more than 90 content sessions. Yet many of those sessions featured innovators from small companies which are helping to remake the power generation mix of tomorrow.

This year’s POWERGEN will feature Knowledge Hubs on the exhibitor floor, as well as longer, more in-depth conference workshops and a Leadership Summit. Former U.S. Energy Secretary and Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be one of our keynote speakers.

Shaping the Future of Generation Together is our North Star, so to speak, the navigational point which guides us. All of which is to say it is not about us at Clarion Energy; it is about you, the power generation industry. Click here to see the call for abstracts. See where your project fits and then submit. Please feel welcome to contact us if you are having any problems or have a question. My email is rod.walton@clarionevents.com.

Getting back to the start, POWERGEN is only as great as the sum of what the industry offers, which is pretty great. It keeps the lights on, gives us warm from the cold, relief from the heat and keeps the wheels of this giant vehicle called society rolling along. And it strives, always strives, to do it better and better.

Those are the stories we want to hear at POWERGEN. The call for abstracts is how we get there.

It’s kind of like a lottery but with much better odds. You got to submit to win.

The steam turbine will be installed at the plant in the city of Sodegaura in Chiba Prefecture. It is a breakthrough for Doosan Å koda in a nation long considered to be dominated by local manufacturers.

“Thanks to the high technical quality of the equipment we will supply, our success with this project may help us enter the Japanese market,” Jaroslav Hejl, head of sales-Asia on new build projects for Doosan Å koda Power, said in a statement. “Due to state support, there are currently several similar projects in Japan in various states of preparation. I believe that despite various administrative hurdles and other obstacles, we will once again hold our own in the fierce competition.”

Doosan Å koda Power will deliver its two-core steam turbine, the 75-MW DST-S10, to the Sodegaura biomass power plant. The DST-S10 promises higher efficiency for green energy and more competitiveness, which Doosan said was a decisive factor in winning the contract.

The turbine is now being manufactured in the Pilsen, Czech Republic, plant and the commercial operational launch is scheduled in 2022.

Based in the Czech Republic, Doosan Å koda Power is part of the South Korean-based Doosan group of global companies. Å koda produced its first turbines in 1904 and joined the Doosan group in 2009.

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Steam turbines, lowering carbon emissions in thermal generation and gas-fired turbines and technologies will all be part of the content offered at POWERGEN International happening December 8-10 in Orlando, Florida. If you have a project you want to highlight at POWERGEN 2020, the call for abstracts is now open.