“sCO2-Flex. Adaptation of fossil-fuel power plants to the future energy system requirements”, the 5th episode of ETN’s webinar series on Flexible Power Generation, took place on 02 February 2021.

Conventional plants could foster the integration of renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar) by off-setting their intermittent nature providing fluctuating back-up power and helping stabilize the grid. The sCO2-Flex consortium addresses such challenge by developing and validating a scalable/modular design of a 25MWe Brayton cycle using supercritical CO2 that will enable an increase in the operational flexibility (fast load changes, fast start-ups and shut-downs) and in the efficiency of existing and future coal and lignite power plants, thus reducing their environmental impacts, in line with EU targets.

sCO2-flex is funded under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under grant agreement n. 764690.

Speakers:

sCO2 power cycles to increase the operational flexibility of fossil-fuel power plants – Slides here

Albannie Cagnac, Project Manager, EDF

Technology innovation in sCO2 power cycles – Slides here

Fulvio Bellobuono, Senior Aerodynamics Engineer, Baker Hughes

sCO2 power cycle – Slides here

Prof. Paolo Silva, Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano

Heat exchanger research – Slides here

Gaëtan  Bergin, Development Manager, Fives 

Moderator:

Ugo Simeoni, Research and Innovation Manager, ETN Global

Recording of the session is available here.

On the Flexible Power Generation webinar series: 

To achieve the EU 2030 and 2050 Climate and Energy goals, a high penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the grid is required. In this context, the role of the fossil fuel power plants will have to increasingly shift from providing base-load power to fluctuating back-up power (i.e. ramping up and down) in order to control and stabilise the grid. However, this poses several challenges in the operation due to increased wears and tears of the power plants components, as well as a reduction in efficiency and increase of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of produced electricity.

The objective of this webinar series is to shed the light on the actions taken by the EU and the industry to meet these challenges and pave the way for a carbon-neutral energy system that would ensure at the same time secure and affordable energy supply. The series is organised by ETN Global, with the support of ETIP SNET and in cooperation with five EU Horizon 2020 projects: FLEXnCONFU (grant agreement n. 884157), HYFLEXPOWER (grant agreement n. 884229), PUMP-HEAT (grant agreement n. 764706), sCO2-flex (grant agreement n. 764690), and TURBO-REFLEX (grant agreement n. 764545).