GE Vernova Receives H-Class Equipment Orders, Replaces Coal Power

GE Vernova’s Gas Power business has secured two orders from EnBW for the delivery of H-class natural gas-fired combined cycle power generation equipment to combined heat-and-power (CHP) stations in Heilbronn and Altbach. EnBW’s orders include equipment, plant construction, software solutions, and maintenance services for 10-year period. GE Vernova will lead an international consortium for the projects, including the EPC companies Bonatti and SENER. The H-class equipment deliveries will replace existing coal-fired plants with natural gas, eventually planned for a switch to a fuel mix combustion of up to 100% hydrogen by volume in the 2030s.

“These power plants will help to increase power supply security in Germany while continuing to phase out coal and expand a more reliable deployment of renewable energy resources in our country, as we’ll be able to dispatch power quickly in response to grid fluctuations,” said Michael Class, Senior Vice President of Generation Portfolio Management, EnBW. “In addition, the two power plants are designed to operate on up to 100% hydrogen by volume, in line with the national goal to deploy renewables and green hydrogen at large scale, but foremost in line with EnBW’s sustainability goals to be carbon-neutral by 2035.”

Heilbronn and Altbach/Deizisau are CHP plants that are expected to deliver approximately 1,340 MW to Germany’s national grid—the equivalent energy needed to power 2.4 million German homes and provide steam for district heating in residential and commercial applications within the larger Stuttgart region.

The 680 MW power plants will replace coal-fired generation and are planned to begin operation by the end of 2026. Replacing coal power at Heilbronn and Altbach/Deizisau with an HA gas turbine equivalent can reduce carbon emissions by up to 60%, as well as lower emissions for other materials such as mercury, NOx, SOx, and particulate matter.

Each plant will be powered by a GE 9HA.01 gas turbine, an STF-D650 steam turbine, a W88 generator, a triple pressure reheated heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), and the integrated Mark VIe distributed control system (DCS) software solution. GE Vernova’s Mark VIe control system will improve asset visibility, reliability, and availability while reducing operation and maintenance costs.

The agreement will have GE Vernova provide services and maintenance for 10 years and includes the implementation of the Digital business’ asset performance management (APM) software. Operating APM Reliability in the cloud, EnBW can access Digital Twin technology that allows for the use of predictive analytics to achieve lower costs, higher availability, and increased reliability and efficiency. Predictive analytics offers these benefits by amplifying the performance of the 9HA.01 gas turbines once the plant is operational.

“In a region with an increasing power demand due to planned coal-fired retirements, we are proud to work with EnBW, Bonatti, and SENER to support a lower-carbon future in Germany,” said Brice Raisin, Senior Executive Sales Leader of GE Vernova’s Gas Power business. “Heilbronn and Altbach/Deizisau CHPs will be the first of GE Vernova’s H-Class combined heat-and-power plants to be installed in Germany, and they are expected to efficient and flexible once they begin operation. We are committed to providing our advanced gas turbine technology to accelerate coal phase-out and increase the share of renewables as we work towards zero-carbon gas-based power generation with hydrogen.”