The University of Connecticut Central Utility Plant, which provides most of the energy used by UConn Storrs, is installing new turbines that can burn hydrogen as well as natural gas. The new turbines could reduce the facility’s carbon emissions by 30%, a key part of the University’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Hydrogen is a clean, high efficiency fuel. Burning it produces mostly steam. Steam can be used to run a secondary turbine to generate more electricity, a compressor for air cooling, or used directly to provide heat. The University’s 24.9MW Central Utility Plant currently does all three while burning natural gas, which is affordable, efficient, and supported by existing pipelines, but contributes to climate change. Adding hydrogen to the fuel mix would increase the plant’s efficiency by increasing its steam output, raising its maximum power generation by about a megawatt and a half. It would also reduce its climate altering emissions.
But commercial hydrogen pipelines don’t exist yet, so in order to mix hydrogen with the natural gas the plant currently burns, the University would need to either buy it or generate it onsite. UConn is looking into both of those possibilities.
University researchers have several projects that could one day join the hydrogen economy. Fuel flexibility is a major focus.
“Only a limited set of technologies can use hydrogen and methane simultaneously. UConn has two of them,” says Xiao-Dong Zhou, director of the Center for Clean Energy Engineering (C2E2).
The hydrogen-capable turbines at the UConn Storrs power plant are one such project. Solid oxide fuel cells are the other. UConn has eight 1.5kW solid oxide fuel cell units donated by InfraPrime. The units are the same type that are beginning to be installed commercially as backup power for data centers, replacing diesel generators. They can run on hydrogen or natural gas, as well as other fuels such as ammonia. Fuel flexibility means the cell can use whichever gas is cheapest, or more available, or minimizes carbon output.
“Our goal is to develop a true next-generation solid oxide fuel cell that achieves an unprecedented combination of power density, efficiency, and durability. This next-gen fuel cell is an enabling technology that is capable of transforming both stationary power and mobility applications,” Zhou says. “We need technologies unconstrained by fuel.”
Fuel Flexibility, Reduced Emissions
The same flexibility is behind the new turbines for UConn’s Central Utility Plant. The new turbines have adjustable nozzles and are made from metal alloys that can withstand the entire range of temperatures and operating conditions that could occur when burning hydrogen, natural gas, a mixture—or even fuel oil, in a pinch. The University does keep a fuel oil reserve, just in case gas becomes temporarily unavailable. But switching over to cleaner, more efficient hydrogen is the goal.
Outside of the Central Utility Plant it’s quiet, with only the usual campus background chatter. But step inside the building, and you can feel the low rumble of the enormous turbines spinning.
Those turbines are connected via pipes to the natural gas line. The Central Utility Plant is essential for the UConn’s energy security. The University is connected to the larger electrical grid and occasionally uses it for backup power, but Storrs sits at the end of a spur line that’s vulnerable to disruption from storms and other incidents. UConn also prefers to use its own plant because it is considerably more efficient than power off the grid; as a co-generation plant that uses the exhaust steam from the primary turbines to make extra electricity, heat, and chilling, it works at 62-65% efficiency—about twice that of the nearest power plant. When it begins fueling with hydrogen, the efficiency will be even higher.
“It’s going to change the numbers: the temperature will be higher, the power output will be higher, the emissions will be lower,” says Stan Nolan, UConn’s associate vice president of facilities operations.
Facilities has been installing the turbines one at a time, with the third scheduled to be completed by June 2026. Installing the first turbine was a bit of a learning experience, according to associate director of utilities infrastructure Alex Stachowiak. And other institutions are learning from UConn’s experience.
“We had a visit from Yale” to check out the new turbine’s installation, Stachowiak says. “It was a full five weeks to change that engine out. Hopefully it will be less painful for them,” because of the experience UConn shared. Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, and the Kimberly-Clark factory in New Milford are also considering hydrogen-capable turbines in their own generating stations, and are watching UConn’s experience with the technology.
The state of Connecticut has a long-term plan to install 1,600MW of renewable electricity to support hydrogen production by 2040, and UConn’s hydrogen-capable turbines are serving as a pilot project. Other institutions and electrical generators will learn from UConn’s experience and install hydrogen generation of their own, with the eventual goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state by 472,000 tons per year.
