GE Vernova has unveiled a 100% hydrogen-ready aeroderivative gas turbine solution based on its LM6000VELOX package. The first-of-a-kind technology will be showcased at the 200-MW Whyalla hydrogen power plant in South Australia, with commissioning slated for early 2026. “It is projected to mark the first time a GE Vernova power plant project, at a commercial scale, is powered by aeroderivative gas turbine combustion technology capable of operating on 100% hydrogen,” GE Vernova noted.
The American technology giant said on Nov. 19, during COP29 in Azerbaijan, that it secured a deal with ATCO Australia and BOC, a Linde subsidiary, to install four LM6000VELOX units at the Whyalla complex in South Australia’s Upper Spencer Gulf.
The 200-MW peaking power station is part of a larger hydrogen project that will include a 250-MW electrolyzer and a 100-ton hydrogen facility. “When completed, the Whyalla hydrogen facility will utilize South Australia’s surplus renewable energy, generated by large-scale wind and solar farms, to produce renewable hydrogen that will be stored and used to power the four LM6000VELOX units,” the company said.
A Major New Solution for a Gas Turbine Giant
The launch of a 100% hydrogen-ready aeroderivative gas turbine line marks one of the first major product unveilings for GE Vernova since the company’s spin-off from GE in April 2024. As POWER has reported, the business evolution sought to establish a giant purpose-built firm that intends to leverage its technology and solutions to empower electrification and decarbonization.
While GE Vernova’s Gas Power business, a cornerstone of its Power division, has retained the company’s gas turbine legacy, the company has invested heavily in research and development (R&D) to “future-proof” its global installed base of 7,000 gas turbines. So far, that has included a series of notable hydrogen combustion “firsts” for its HA-class, which already has the capability to burn up to 50% hydrogen by volume when blended with natural gas. The company is now working to achieve a 100% hydrogen burn capability in the heavy-duty platform by 2030.
In tandem, the company is working to outfit its F-class fleet with 100% hydrogen capabilities. Earlier this year, it marked its first deployment of a hydrogen-capable dual-fuel 9F gas turbine at EnergyAustralia’s 320-MW Tallawarra B gas-fired power station in New South Wales. That project became Australia’s first peaking power plant capable of operating on a natural gas and hydrogen fuel blend. Separately, a fully functional project at Duke Energy’s DeBary power plant in Florida is slated to demonstrate an integrated 100% hydrogen power-to-power system for commercial peaking, leveraging one of DeBary’s four 83-MW GE 7E gas turbines. The upgrade is expected to transform the 7E gas turbine, a model launched in the 1970s and used widely in industrial, power generation, and cogeneration applications, “from a dual fuel unit with natural gas and distillate” capabilities to a “tri-fuel” unit.
Meanwhile, GE Vernova has launched innovative packages for its aeroderivative fleet, comprising three models: the LM6000, LM2500, and TM2500. Last year, the company launched the 57-MW LM6000VELOX package, modeled after the success of the 2020-introduced LM2500XPRESS power plant. A dual-fuel dry low emissions (DLE) LM6000VELOX package gas turbine and generator package is, for example, being installed to replace the Tennessee Valley Authority’s 1.3-GW Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee as part of a fast-track project. At the core of the LM6000VELOX package is the LM6000, a 44.7-MW to 56-MW aeroderivative gas turbine commercially introduced in 1988, which derives from GE’s CF6-80C2 high bypass turbofan aircraft engine. More than 1,200 LM6000 gas turbines have since been installed across 60 countries, GE Vernova has noted.
Launch of the 100% hydrogen-fueled LM6000VELOX package on Tuesday marks a new pathway for the gas turbine line, and it follows years of investment in R&D to advance its combustion systems to burn higher blends of hydrogen, said Eric Gray, CEO of GE Vernova’s Gas Power business. “We are proud to unveil our first 100% hydrogen-ready aeroderivative gas turbine solution to support our customers’ decarbonization goals while maintaining grid reliability, which requires the deploying of renewable and conventional power technology in tandem,” Gray noted.
A Net-Zero Gas Turbine Package
As GE Vernova has told POWER, the market for aeroderivative gas turbines is expanding in power generation and energy-intensive industries, particularly in North America and Europe, where established power infrastructures, strict emissions regulations, and a growing share of renewables are driving demand. Globally, aeroderivatives are also gaining traction to support energy transitions, including shifts from coal and diesel to gas, largely due to their ability to provide peaking power, reserve capacity, and rapid deployment.
According to Midhat Mirabi, managing director of Aeroderivatives New Units at GE Vernova, the company embarked on its path to develop a 100% hydrogen solution for its aeroderivatives after demonstrating combustion of 5% to 44% hydrogen (in a blend with natural gas) on a LM6000 SAC gas turbine at New York Power Authority’s 45-MW Brentwood Small Clean Power Plant in Long Island in 2022.
“As part of the development effort, GE Vernova has conducted rigorous component-level combustion testing for new designs at the Advanced Research Center (ARC) in Niskayuna, New York,” he told POWER. “During these tests, GE Vernova has been able to successfully demonstrate that the LM6000 PC combustor is able to burn up to 100% hydrogen with water injection. As the next step, a full-scale engine test is planned in Greenville to validate the product further.”
Mirabi said the R&D has led to a “reimagination” of the LM6000 PC’s combustion system. Modifications, for example, include advancements to its fuel nozzle and material upgrades to key components, including fuel system piping and valves. “The new design represents a leap forward in innovation, overcoming the challenges of hydrogen’s higher flame speed through precise design enhancements to the fuel nozzle, optimized water injection schedules, and advanced control modifications,” he noted. “Equipped with robust safety features, including nitrogen purge systems and hydrogen fire detection systems, it sets a new benchmark for reliability and safety. This is engineering excellence redefined,” he said.
Running an aeroderivative turbine fully on hydrogen could have repercussions, Mirabi acknowledged. “While hydrogen combustion is not expected to change the engine output or efficiency significantly, minor changes to operation such as start/stop capability on natural gas can be expected,” he said. In addition, “some impact to the maintenance and turbine components are expected due to increased water injection and hydrogen properties.” However, “That said, each site can be specific, and we recommend power plant operators have a discussion with their GE Vernova representative for additional detail,” he stressed.
For now, GE Vernova is prepared for a quick rollout of the first-of-a-kind solution to ensure the four Whyalla LM6000VELOX units are commissioned as expected by early 2026. After installation and commissioning, the company plans to conduct some “additional component-level testing, engineering design reviews for the gas turbine generator solution, and further system testing in our H2 facility in Greenville,” Mirabi noted.
Decarbonized Firm Power for South Australia
When operational, the 200-MW Whyalla hydrogen plant is expected to provide essential firming services to South Australia, a state that is grappling with a rapid transformation to clean energy. Since the state’s last coal station shut down in 2016, it has increasingly relied on wind, solar, storage, and distributed energy sources. Today those sources make up a combined 75% of its generated power, with the remainder coming from gas power and a relatively small amount from diesel. By 2026, that share could reach 85%, in step with the state’s target to achieve 100% net renewable energy by 2027.
However, experts posit that while the state is already capable of running its grid on 100% renewables, it will still need to rely on devices—like gas turbines and synchronous condensers—to maintain grid stability. Reliability and flexibility, notably, have grown into a specific focus since the 2016 statewide blackout.
As the state notes, prolonged periods of wind or solar “droughts” as well as transmission network outages have necessitated a “long-duration firm capacity fleet” that is capable of “at least 8 hours of continuous rated output and can quickly ramp up and sustain high output.” As just one example, on May 13, “low-wind conditions led to an increase in gas generation from 71 MW to 1,174 MW over three hours between 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. as solar output reduced,” it said.
“South Australia is at the forefront of the global shift to clean energy, and our investment in 100% hydrogen-capable technology at Whyalla sets a new standard for what’s possible,” said South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas in a statement sent to POWER on Tuesday. “By integrating this world-first technology, we are not only supporting our state’s energy security but also creating a blueprint for sustainable, hydrogen-fuelled power that the rest of the world can follow.”
To prepare for the project, the state government has committed about A$593 million, with the Commonwealth and State Governments contributing A$100 million to the so-called “Hydrogen Jobs Plan Power Plant Project.” The funding will cover both the Whyalla renewable hydrogen power plant facility and the the Port Bonython Hydrogen Hub, which is located near Stony Point. “The plan centers on the large-scale delivery of green hydrogen production facilities, green hydrogen-fueled power generation, and associated hydrogen storage to stimulate industry investment in hydrogen and create a globally competitive clean energy industry,” Mirabi explained.
For the South Australian government, other benefits—beyond enhanced grid security and new dispatchable generation—will be to create significant employment opportunities while demonstrating the viability of large-scale hydrogen production and generation technologies.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
