Thermal power plants
First test centre for micro gas turbines inaugurated
Small, but fine, because of low-emission: micro gas turbines can provide electricity and heat decentrally in industrial plants or private households.
The advantage is obvious: energy is produced where it is needed. Losses during transport can be reduced to a minimum. At the end of November, the Institute for Combustion Technology of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Stuttgart commissioned the Decentralized Energies Technology Platform, a test facility that is unique in Germany.
A central component of the technology platform are several micro gas turbines from different manufacturers and power classes - from four kilowatts of electrical power, for example, for use in single-family homes and apartment blocks, to 300 kilowatts for supplying businesses or hospitals. These can be further developed and tested at DLR under real application conditions by science teams from industry and research. The spectrum of research work ranges from testing individual components such as innovative burner systems to analysing entire power plants, including the operating and control strategies they require.
Getting research findings quickly into practice
"Research at the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology has earned an excellent international reputation. With the Decentralised Energies Technology Platform, this research is being further promoted and a topic that is very relevant to the transformation of energy systems: fuel- and load-flexible microturbines. I am looking forward to the results and hope that these will quickly find their way into the market as marketable products," said Andreas Feicht, State Secretary responsible for energy policy at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, at the inauguration ceremony.
