Building heating and cooling utility District Energy St. Paul is contracting with engine supplier Caterpillar Inc. as part of a 2-MW combined heat and power (CHP) project fueled by a mix of hydrogen and natural gas.
The collaboration between Caterpillar and District Energy St. Paul, which provides heating and cooling to hundreds of office buildings and residences in the St. Paul region of Minnesota, will develop and demonstrate a hydrogen-fueled power delivery and control system.
The real-world application would assess every aspect of hydrogen mixes in the CHP generation. Power and heat delivered will feed into District Energy St. Paul’s distribution system.
“As a leading authority on CHP systems and the deployment of advanced energy technologies that promote sustainability, District Energy St. Paul is the ideal choice for hosting this demonstration,” said Jason Kaiser, vice president for Caterpillar’s Electric Power Division. “The project will help Caterpillar further extend our expertise in hydrogen-fueled power systems performing under the highest expectations of real-world applications.”
For the demonstration project, Caterpillar will deploy a flexible-fuel CHP system that includes the Cat Master Microgrid Controller (MMC) and a Cat G3516 generator set packaged in a standardized, factory-assembled solution to minimize complexity and infrastructure requirements.
The demonstration is supported and partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Caterpillar is project lead with collaborators including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The master microgrid controller will manage load dispatch requirements as the power system demonstrates the performance, efficiency and emissions characteristics of a hydrogen-fueled solution. Using 100% hydrogen fuel, 100% natural gas fuel, or natural gas blended with up to 25% hydrogen, the project will compare how hydrogen and hydrogen blends can be integrated into a waste-heat-and-power solution.
Ziegler, the local Cat dealer, will provide on-site support and system maintenance for the project.
Hydrogen does not emit carbon dioxide when combusted. Many power generation equipment manufacturers are experimenting with hybrid H2-gas mixes in turbines and generator-sets, including Caterpillar, Cummins, Mitsubishi Power, GE, Siemens and others.
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(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).
