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The NETL turbine installation map tool generally covers new turbine installations from 2010 to 2023. (A couple of turbines from 2009 and earlier are included due to the availability of previous data.) The primary source of info for these turbines is the EIA’s monthly 860 report’s generator level data and 923 report’s electricity generation data (up to December 2023). Additional installations were added based on information from the most recent (2024) Gas Turbine World Handbook. Entries were organized based on the EIA’s Plant ID and Generator ID for unique identifiers. Entries from sources other than EIA were given unique identifiers based on the primary source of the data. For convenience, only turbines within the continental U.S., Hawaii, and Alaska were considered (i.e., no offshore units and no units in U.S. territories or other countries).
Other items available on the map include available Class VI CO2 storage wells, CO2 and H2, pipelines, and other hydrogen infrastructure/hubs. For the Class VI wells, the EPA keeps an active record of all Class VI well applications available to the public. Both a Map and a complete list of applications under review were used to determine the approximate locations of available Class VI wells for the NETL’s map. For the CO2 pipeline and hydrogen data, a number of sources were consulted. Hydrogen pipelines locations were found from a report from the Congressional Research Service. This information was cross-referenced with information from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Hydrogen Demand and Resource Analysis (HYDRA) Tool. More information about this tool can be found here. CO2 pipeline locations were gathered from another interactive map from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Finally, all of the above information was cross-referenced with NETL’s in-house EDX Carbon Management Projects (CONNECT) Sandbox, located here. The EDX database also contains data maintained by NETL about hydrogen hubs, carbon capture projects, and other relevant infrastructure.
The EIA data mentioned above was generally taken to be the original source for installations. Plants whose existence and/or completion status could not be verified and plants that were confirmed to have been demolished or cancelled were ignored for the purpose of generating the dataset. As the EIA does not have information on the gas turbine firing class or spec data, such information was taken from either Gas Turbine World or an independent source (see below).
To ensure the accuracy of the dataset, all 762 entries (plus some tentative projects that are still under construction) were cross-referenced with information from the Power Technology database and the Global Energy Monitor Wiki. In the cases where the original EIA data is directly in question, GEM Wiki was not used in order to avoid circular reference issues (GEM Wiki’s primary source of info often comes from past EIA reports). In cases where discrepancies were found between the primary data sources and these sources, information from independent sources (provided for each entry where appropriate in the Tableau engine and accompanying spreadsheet) was used instead. (For example, the EIA entry “Jack McDonough,” with plant ID 710 – the actual name of the plant as recorded by the owners is the “McDonough-Atkinson Power Plant,” so this is the name used for the map tool. Another example: Brea Power II, LLC’s plant, with plant ID 58007 – the EIA lists this as the “Brea Expansion Plant.” This is part of the “Brea Power Project,” and it is a unit installed at the Olinda-Alpha Landfill. Thus, “Olinda-Alpha Landfill” is the name used. Other items, such as owner re-brandings, transfers of ownership, and other such recent changes not captured by the EIA were noted and changes were made appropriately as discovered). In general, any information taken from independent sources is treated as the most accurate. Turbine spec and operability data is gathered from Gas Turbine World and verified in a similar fashion with spec data from OEMs where available. Plant location data was taken from coordinates provided by the EIA and verified using Google Maps.
NETL has access to empirical data gathered from decades of gas turbine testing data from OEMs, which is summarized below in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Turbine emissions correlated with turbine inlet temperature
From this chart, it is possible to generate an equation for a “CO2 Emissions Factor” using a linear approximation, as shown in Equation 1, below.
where the Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT) is in °R (degrees Rankine), yielding a number roughly between 650 and 800 lbs/MWh. Based on this factor and the capacity factor (CF, defined as the actual annual energy output compared to the maximum possible annual energy output assuming 100% full load operation year-round), the total emissions can be estimated, via the following equations:
The capacity factor was calculated using the monthly energy output information from the EIA-923 report. In cases where this data was not available, a rough estimate of 85% was assumed. In cases where the CEF could not be estimated due to lack of information on the TIT, a TIT was assigned based on the firing class, determined by Fig. 1. In all other cases, no calculations were made, and the CO2 emissions calculation process was skipped. For extremely small turbines (such as micro turbines), no calculations were made, as these were considered to be too far outside of the available data range to be accurately predicted by the aforementioned linear estimation scheme.
This dataset will be updated yearly based on new information from the EIA as it is created. New entries will be added based on the previously mentioned methodology. As new information becomes available for individual plants/installations, those entries will be updated with the most current information available. Any entries that cannot be verified via one of the aforementioned independent sources (including plant owners and independent news sources) will be ignored.
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