Baker Hughes was awarded a contract to be booked in the first quarter of 2024 from Snam, a European operator in natural gas transportation, storage and regasification, to provide three NovaLT12 gas turbine driven compressor trains for a new gas compressor station in Sulmona (Italy).

The station is an integral part of Adriatic Line, a Snam pipeline project, whose first phase was included in Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) as part of the REpowerEU Plan and, therefore, deemed eligible to be financed. The Adriatic Line entails the construction of a 425 km long, H₂-ready pipeline to allow the transport of additional energy supplies from Azerbaijan, Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean region to northern Europe.

The adoption of Baker Hughes NovaLT12 turbines, which provide the option to run on 100% natural gas or H₂ blends up to 10%, represents a significant milestone in decarbonizing the Italian gas network infrastructure and aligns with Snam’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality on direct emissions by 2040.

The contract, which was awarded to Baker Hughes following a public tender, builds on a long-standing collaboration between the two companies that has involved the successful testing, in 2020, of a hybrid H₂ turbine designed for a gas network, and the installation of a NovaLT12 turbine at Snam’s Istrana, Italy, site in November 2022.

“This milestone in our long-standing collaboration with Snam demonstrates that the energy transition requires continuous partnership. Together, we are innovating and delivering critical world-firsts for the decarbonization of gas networks,” said Ganesh Ramaswamy, executive vice president, Industrial & Energy Technology at Baker Hughes. “Our work with customers and partners is part of our commitment to developing innovative technology solutions, such as the NovaLT12, that enable the decarbonization of energy ecosystems and the creation of the H₂ economy while continuing to support the need for an affordable and secure energy supply.”

In January 2024, Baker Hughes shared an update on several milestones on some of its most significant and active H₂ projects, including a new H₂ testing facility in Florence, Italy; the completed manufacturing and testing of its NovaLT16 H₂ turbines for the Air Products Net-Zero H₂ Energy Complex in Edmonton, Canada; and progress on another key Air Products project with the delivery of the first two trains of advanced H₂ compression solutions for the NEOM project in Saudi Arabia, the largest green H₂ project in the world.