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Hybrid power plants consisting of SOFC and gas turbine promise high electrical efficiencies. The German Aerospace Center aims to build and operate such a hybrid power plant with an electrical power output of 30 kW. The presentation will illustrate the general concept of the power plant and give an overview of the current status of the project.

This contribution gives an overview of the theoretical and experimental investigations that have been carried out at DLR concerning the pressurized operation of SOFC. The influence of pressure on SOFC performance is analyzed and the influence of internal reforming reactions is evaluated. Furthermore, the influence of pressure on degradation mechanisms is theoretically analyzed. Results show that pressure can strongly influence the power density of SOFC. A decrease in SOFC performance caused by reformate gases is mainly due to temperature effects. Nickel oxidation and carbon deposition propensity are both pressure dependent and should be addressed when designing pressurized SOFC systems.

A model of a hybrid power plant consisting of SOFC and a gas turbine is presented. Simulations are carried out for a different number of SOFC stacks while keeping the output power of the SOFC constant. Results show that the effect of stack number on system performance is only marginal within the investigated range. Operating conditions of the SOFC, however, are strongly influenced.