Supercritical CO₂ Turbines
Supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) power cycles operate above the critical point of carbon dioxide, where the fluid behaves like both a liquid and gas, achieving high thermal efficiency in compact turbomachinery. Because sCO₂ has high density, turbines and heat exchangers can be 5–10× smaller than steam equivalents, reducing capital cost and enabling modular skid-mounted power blocks. These systems pair with concentrated solar power, nuclear SMRs, geothermal, and industrial waste-heat recovery, squeezing more electricity out of each unit of heat while needing less cooling water.
Companies like GE Vernova, Baker Hughes, Siemens Energy, Echogen, and net-zero startups (sCO₂ Flex, Wantcom) are building 10–100 MW pilots funded by DOE’s STEP program, ARPA‑E, and European Innovation Fund. CSP plants plan to swap steam Rankine cycles with sCO₂ to hit >50% thermal efficiency, while data centers and steel mills explore using sCO₂ bottoming cycles to harvest low-grade heat. The technology also pairs well with high-temperature reactors and solar thermal storage, offering dispatchable clean power.
sCO₂ turbines are TRL 5–6: materials must withstand 700 °C, sealing and bearings require new designs, and control systems need certification. Once reliability is proven, the ability to deliver high-efficiency, compact power blocks will make sCO₂ a go-to upgrade for revamping fossil plants, repowering CSP, and increasing the round-trip efficiency of energy-storage systems like thermal batteries.
