What is the answer for our future energy needs? Do we focus on solar, or wind, or natural gas, or oil, or cleaner coal or nuclear? The reality is that we need to find new ways to make all of these energy sources work together if we are going to achieve the cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy mix of tomorrow.
Renewable energy will be an important component of the future energy grid and governments around the world are putting incentives in place to increase its uptake.
Compared to traditional power generation technologies, it provides cleaner energy, and the newest technologies in wind and solar are becoming ever more affordable. However, the biggest drawback of renewable power is that it counts on wind and sunshine, which are not always available. When energy demand is high, and the wind isn’t blowing, or the sun isn’t shining, power grid operators need flexible power generation sources to fill the gap. To ensure that power is there every time you switch on your light at home, power grids face this balancing act of energy demand and supply hourly, and even by the minute. As we add more and more renewable power to the grid, this challenge becomes greater and greater.
A recent MIT Energy Initiative Symposium threw down the gauntlet, with experts underscoring that “there is a growing challenge of matching the … mix of power plants with new requirements to respond quickly to changes in wind and solar resources.” Ignacio Pérez-Arriaga, a professor at Spain’s Comillas University, succinctly said: “The power system needs more flexibility.”
It is widely understood that natural gas is a cleaner and more affordable source of power compared to traditional fossil fuels. And we’re finding new sources of natural gas around the world that are increasing its abundance and reducing its cost. A less well appreciated attribute of natural gas power plants is that they’re flexible. Unlike coal and nuclear power plants, natural gas plants can be designed to be cycled on and off rapidly. The problem in the past is that highly flexible gas-fired power plants have had to sacrifice fuel efficiency. We had to make a trade-off. It’s much like buying a high performance sports car versus a fuel efficient sedan. You can get power and responsiveness under your foot but at a heavy fuel cost.
Think now of renewables and gas working together. With yesterday’s technology, as more and more renewables were brought online, power grid operators were forced to put more and more inefficient gas-fired power plants on line to provide the power on demand that was needed to offset the intermittency of renewables.
So, to further increase renewable power uptake, GE engineers realized that we needed gas fired power plants that combine world class fuel efficiency with world class flexibility. At GE, we call this attribute ‘FlexEfficiency,’ and in Paris last week we just introduced a new gas-fired power plant that borrows the same GE jet engine technology that flies us on planes every day to produce cleaner, more efficient, and more flexible power. Just as our jet engines quickly go from tarmac idle to full thrust at takeoff and then throttle down at cruising altitude, so too does the engine at the heart of the new natural gas power plant that we have developed. The breakthrough is that our new power plant provides this level of flexibility while simultaneously providing excellent fuel efficiency.
We’re excited because our new gas-fired FlexEfficiency technology will allow for much greater uptake of renewable power. Working together, natural gas and renewables will allow for a cleaner, more affordable and reliable power grid. As the UK, Germany, France, China, India and the US approach critical junctures in our conversation about creating the power generation of the future, we believe this is a significant breakthrough.
Nations around the world are looking for solutions that combine economic progress with environmental sustainability. At GE, we are increasingly aware that the challenges we face today represent a critical turning point in history, and through our ecomagination initiative, we have dedicated ourselves to provide the products and technology that will make sustainable progress possible. The good news is that whether you believe that history drives innovation or that innovation drives history, the energy solutions needed for the power grid of the future are becoming reality today.
Paul F. Browning is President & CEO of GE Thermal Power.
Browning oversees the worldwide business plan and execution of GE’s Heavy Duty Gas Turbine, Steam Turbine, Generator and Controls, and Gasification product lines. The global Thermal Power team leads the product management function responsible for design, manufacturing, and installation of large scale electricity generating equipment.
Prior to his current position, Paul was most recently with Caterpillar Corp., as managing director, Caterpillar Motoren, based in Kiel, Germany. He was responsible for a global business in Caterpillar’s Marine & Petroleum Power division. Previously, Paul was the vice president, Turbomachinery Products in Caterpillar’s Solar Turbines division. Within that division, he worked in commercial, manufacturing, and technical roles.
Paul began his professional career as a research engineer for eight years at the GE Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. This included a role as a program manager for GE Power Systems after receiving his B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.S. in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
