Welcome to the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Website for Turbines. This site explores the Turbine Program of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE).

Turbines have been the world's energy workhorses for generations, harkening back to primitive devices such as waterwheels (2,000 years ago) and windmills (over 1,000 years old). Today, turbines not only power aircraft and vehicles of all sorts, they are the heart of almost all of the world's electric generating systems.

As the Nation scrutinizes its energy choices, the need persists to remove environmental concerns over the use of fossil fuel resources, while at the same time promote delivery of reliable, affordable, diverse, and environmentally sound energy. To help fulfill these needs, the NETL Turbine Program manages a research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) portfolio designed to remove environmental concerns over the future use of coal by developing revolutionary, near-zero-emission advanced turbine technologies. Efforts are focused on the R&D required to provide turbines that will improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness of integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC), and other related processes.  Through the research efforts of NETL and key stakeholders, significant steps have been made toward developing this new generation of advanced turbines.

These advanced turbines will enable power producers to switch to coal-derived syngas or coal-derived hydrogen as the primary fuels, while at the same time allowing the capture of CO₂ that results from energy production. In short, advanced turbines are needed to provide secure U.S. electric power production that is clean, efficient, affordable, and adaptable to CO₂ capture. NETL's Turbine research is at the forefront of attaining these goals, which will enable the continued use of coal — our Nation's most abundant fossil energy resource.

NETL's in-house Turbine R&D group uses
unique facilities to evaluate new concepts in combustion, advanced sensors, and turbine materials. In particular, NETL is evaluating new approaches to combustion and combustion control that may be used to operate hydrogen combustors with very low NOx emissions. New concepts for thermal barrier coatings, coupled to advanced substrates are being jointly explored with academic research groups.

This Website provides information about the Turbine Program and its goals, current projects and solicitations, and performance targets of on-going projects. For more information on Turbine technologies and the significant portfolio of projects being developed by NETL, visit the Reference Shelf for project-related publications and presentations.

We hope the information provided in these Web pages proves of value. Click here to contact us with Comments, Suggestions, or Questions you might have.