Development of a prototype eCompressor for the fast-starting of gas fuelled generators

英国国家电网和全球大多数电网在一定程度上依赖内燃机发电机组（发电机组）在需求高峰时提供“峰值”电力供应，或在不可用时回填可再生能源，如风能或太阳能。在有天然气电网的地方，发电机组是以天然气为燃料的，但除此之外，它们通常仍然使用柴油。这些发电机组能够快速斜升到全功率是有利的，柴油发电机组非常有能力。然而，燃气发电机组从冷启动到全功率的斜坡响应时间很差，并且在运行时接受大的负载增加。这就是为什么柴油是备用电源的正常选择，特别是对于关键基础设施，如医院或数据中心，即使有天然气可用。鲍曼开发了一种解决方案，可以大大提高天然气发电机组的响应能力。利用这种“快速启动”的电子压缩机（FSEC）技术，可以实现更快的冷机负载斜坡时间-从几分钟减少到不到10秒。这种性能上的转型变化可以使燃气发电机组在目前使用柴油的情况下成为可行的备用发电机组，并使现有的燃气发电机组能够更好地响应电网的弹性和稳定性。后一点很重要，因为英国国家电网正在推出新的激励措施，以加快启动速度，预计其他国家也将效仿。此外，FSEC技术还有助于燃气发电机组向未来零碳燃料的过渡，未来零碳燃料对燃烧空气的要求更高。鲍曼将开发TRL 6原型，并在测试台上根据运营商定义的全方位性能要求对其进行评估，并在全球多个地区进行认证。如果内燃机仍然是发电的最佳解决方案，FSEC技术将在短期内推动从柴油向燃气的过渡，提高燃气发电机组的性能，并加速向未来其他气体燃料（如绿色氢或氨）的过渡。

The UK national grid and the majority of power grids globally, rely to some extent on internal combustion engine generator sets (gensets) to provide 'peaking' power provision when demand peaks, or to back fill renewable sources such as wind or solar when unavailable. Where there is a gas grid, gensets are gas fuelled but otherwise, they often still use diesel.It is advantageous for these gensets to be able to ramp to full power quickly, which diesel gensets are very capable of. However, gas gensets have poor response times ramping from a cold start to full power, and when accepting large load increases whilst running. This is why diesel is the normal choice for backup power, especially for critical infrastructure such as hospitals or data centres even if gas is available.Bowman has developed a solution to dramatically improve gas genset responsiveness. With this 'fast-start' eCompressor (FSEC) technology, much faster cold engine load ramp times can be achieved - reduced from a few minutes to less than 10 seconds. This transformational change in performance can make gas gensets viable for backup where diesel is currently used and enable existing gas gensets to be much more responsive to improve power grid resilience and stability. This latter point is important as UK National Grid is introducing new incentives for faster starting and other countries are expect to follow suit. Furthermore, FSEC technology can help with the transition of gas gensets to future zero carbon fuels which have more onerous requirements for combustion air.Bowman will develop a TRL6 prototype and evaluate it on a test bench against a full range of performance requirements defined by operators and for certification in various global territories.Where the combustion engine remains the optimal solution for power generation, FSEC technology will be an enabler for transition from diesel to gas in the near-term, improve the performance of gas gensets and also accelerate transition to other gas fuels of the future such as green hydrogen or ammonia.