ENERGY AND TURBOMACHINERY NETWORK

Their core work

ETN Global is a Brussels-based industry association representing the gas turbine and turbomachinery sector across Europe. They coordinate and participate in EU-funded innovation projects focused on making power generation more flexible, efficient, and compatible with alternative fuels like hydrogen and ammonia. Their role bridges industry needs with research execution — they bring together power plant operators, equipment manufacturers, and research institutions to demonstrate next-generation energy technologies at operational scale. Their work spans from supercritical CO2 power cycles to island energy systems integrating renewables with storage.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ETN Global's H2020 portfolio is concentrated in 2020-2021, so evolution is limited but visible. Their earlier project (FLEXnCONFU) focused on adapting existing combined cycle power plants to burn non-conventional fuels like hydrogen and ammonia — essentially retrofitting the current energy fleet. Their later work shifted toward demonstrating entirely new power cycle technologies (sCO2 in CO2OLHEAT) and integrated energy systems for isolated communities (ROBINSON), suggesting a move from fuel-switching in existing infrastructure toward purpose-built clean energy solutions.

ETN is moving from incremental fuel flexibility in gas turbines toward demonstration of advanced power cycle technologies (sCO2) and integrated energy systems, positioning for the post-fossil thermal power sector.

How they like to work

ETN Global primarily leads projects — they coordinated 2 out of 3 H2020 projects, indicating they are comfortable taking on consortium management responsibilities. With 60 unique partners across 18 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia typical of Innovation Action (IA) projects. As an industry association, their value in a consortium is convening power: they bring together turbomachinery manufacturers, utilities, and research labs under a shared agenda.

Despite only 3 projects, ETN has built an extensive network of 60 unique partners across 18 countries, reflecting their role as an industry association that convenes broad, multi-national consortia. Their Brussels base and pan-European membership give them reach across the entire EU energy landscape.

What sets them apart

ETN Global occupies a rare position as an industry association that actually coordinates large-scale demonstration projects, not just lobbies or publishes position papers. Their membership base of turbomachinery manufacturers and operators gives them direct access to real industrial sites for technology validation. For consortium builders, they offer both technical credibility in thermal power systems and the network to recruit industrial end-users as project partners.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CO2OLHEAT
  ETN's largest project (EUR 498K) and a coordinator role — demonstrates supercritical CO2 power cycles in real industrial settings across cement, glass, and aluminum sectors, bridging turbomachinery expertise with heavy industry decarbonization.
• ROBINSON
  Coordinated by ETN, this project tackles island energy independence by integrating renewables with storage and industrial symbiosis — an unusual scope extension from their core turbomachinery focus.
• FLEXnCONFU
  Addresses the critical challenge of keeping combined cycle gas turbine plants viable by enabling hydrogen and ammonia as combustion fuels — directly relevant to Europe's energy transition timeline.