Inventive NOx scrubbing reduces emissions for California

After recent wildfires and drought conditions, California remains alert and prepared for energy emergencies. Anticipating a supply shortage if hydropower runs dry, the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) acted as procurement agent, commissioning four 30-MW GE TM2500 aeroderivative gas turbines. 

Governor Newsom declared safeguarding the grid as imperative, but so was keeping it deeply green, as California sees massive success in meeting its own incredibly strict emissions rules. Honoring this with ingenuity, GE built in selective catalytic reduction scrubbers (SCRs) to the turbines for a markedly low NOX emission rating of 2.5 PPM (opposed to the average of 15). To date, this tech innovation with SCRs is the first of its kind.

The TM2500 is 75% hydrogen-capable, burning far cleaner than gas. With a proven record as backup power and a ramp-up of just minutes, GE’s TM2500 will lend 120 MW to the grid through DWR, who is acting as the generator. 

Kiewit Power Constructors Co. was chosen to install the four units that will shore up California’s ability to respond to future energy-supply crises. Reinforced by the Roseville and Yuba City power plants, the TM2500 is helping reduce the impact of natural disasters on commercial and residential water supplies, not to mention homes and businesses. 

GE and DWR have reached high for a greener future—through a project that’s added the sustainability and dependability California’s electricity system needs right now.