RWE, Kawasaki pursue hydrogen for power
A division of German energy company RWE said December 9 it would work with Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries to test hydrogen in a gas-fired power plant in Germany.
RWE Generation said it was planning a hydrogen-powered gas facility in the northwest German town of Lingen.
“It shall be used to test the conversion of hydrogen back into electricity at RWE's Emsland gas-fired power plant,” the German company explained. “The project is one of the first worldwide to use a gas turbine to convert 100% hydrogen into electricity on an industrial scale.”
RWE pointed to the flexibility of gas turbines developed by Kawasaki. Those can run on 100% hydrogen, 100% natural gas or a combination of both.
“This is indispensable because the amount of green gas available for reconversion will fluctuate frequently during the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy before continuous operation with it will be possible,” the company added.
RWE has about 14 GW of natural gas-fired power stations installed across Europe. A roadmap for a “green conversion” will be developed for all existing plants, while the 2 GW of planned facilities will include decarbonisation strategies.
A recent “Growing Green” initiative outlined by the company targets major spending in wind and solar energy, batteries and hydrogen.
In November, RWE signed a memorandum of understanding with Anglo-Dutch major Shell to identify potential projects and advance them to an investment decision in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. They will look at producing green hydrogen and using it to decarbonise industry and mobility, as well as using CCS and blue hydrogen to decarbonise RWE's gas and biogas power plants.
"One of the greatest challenges of the energy transition is to ensure a secure CO2-free electricity supply at all times - even when wind and sun are not sufficiently available,” Roger Miesen, the CEO of RWE Generation, said. “Hydrogen-fuelled, gas-fired power plants will make an important contribution to ensuring this in the future.”
The 34 MW facility could be operational by the middle of 2024.