Water turbine like a true turbine. Fausto Veranzio in his book "Machinae Novae" (1595) described a vertical axis mill with a rotor similar to that of a Francis turbine. Johann Segner developed a reactive water turbine (Segner wheel) in the mid-18th century in Kingdom of Hungary. It had a horizontal axis and was a precursor to modern water turbines. It is a very simple machine that is still produced today for use in small hydro sites. Segner worked with Euler on some of the early mathematical theories of turbine design. In the 18th century, a Dr. Robert Barker invented a similar reaction
Gas turbine is used solely for shaft power, its thermal efficiency is about 30%. However, it may be cheaper to buy electricity than to generate it. Therefore, many engines are used in CHP (Combined Heat and Power) configurations that can be small enough to be integrated into portable container configurations. Gas turbines can be particularly efficient when waste heat from the turbine is recovered by a heat recovery steam generator to power a conventional steam turbine in a combined cycle configuration. The 605 MW General Electric 9HA achieved a 62.22% efficiency rate with temperatures as high as . For 2018, GE offers