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，或在不可用时补充风能或太阳能等可再生能源。在有燃气电网的地方，发电机组是燃气驱动的，但除此之外，它们通常仍使用柴油。这是有利的，这些发电机组能够斜坡到全功率迅速，这是柴油发电机组非常有能力。然而，燃气发电机组从冷启动到满功率的响应时间较差，并且在运行时接受大负荷增加。这就是为什么柴油是备用电源的正常选择，特别是对于医院或数据中心等关键基础设施，即使有天然气可用。Bowman开发了一种解决方案，可以显著提高燃气发电机组的响应能力。使用这种“快速启动”eCompressor （FSEC）技术，可以实现更快的冷发动机负载斜坡时间-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成为目前使用柴油的备用发电机组，并使现有燃气发电机组能够更好地响应，提高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，预计其他国家也会效仿。此外，FSEC技术可以帮助燃气发电机组向未来的零碳燃料过渡，这对燃烧空气有更苛刻的要求。Bowman将开发TRL6原型，并根据运营商定义的各种性能要求在测试台上对其进行评估，并在全球各个地区进行认证。在内燃机仍然是发电的最佳解决方案的情况下，FSEC技术将在短期内实现从柴油到天然气的过渡，提高燃气发电机组的性能，并加速向未来的其他气体燃料（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.