Innovation Meets Decarbonization: The potential of the HYFLEXPOWER project to reduce global carbon emissions

When you live in the Middle East as I do, the issues surrounding climate change hit very close to home. The hottest and coldest parts of the world are experiencing higher temperature rises than temperate regions, making the Middle East one of the more vulnerable areas to global warming. I can personally attest to this having lived in the region the majority of my life and I have definitely noticed the significant, albeit gradual, rise in temperatures. And I believe the potential negative effects of this trend are becoming more visible. Reports such as the RICCAR Arab Climate Change Assessment Report, conclude some startling projections for the Arab region: Temperatures will continue to rise until the end of the century; most regions will see decreasing precipitation, and the number of very hot days (>40 °C) will increase significantly until the end of the century. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer to address these critical issues.

You can understand, therefore, that projects to reduce global carbon emissions are particularly close to my heart. This is why I am especially excited about the HYFLEXPOWER Project, implemented by a consortium led by Siemens Energy together with Engie Solutions, Centrax, Arttic, German Aerospace Center (DLR) and four European universities. This €15.2m EU Horizon 2020 research project will be the first demonstration of a fully integrated power-to-X-to-power industrial scale power plant using gas turbines powered by up to 100% green hydrogen.

Hydrogen offers huge potential for decarbonization and a great deal of headway has been made in using hydrogen fuel cells for transport, including buses, trains, marine vessels, and cars. However, progress in the use of hydrogen to decarb power generation network has been done in the past at a much slower pace. The HYFLEXPOWER project is a big step towards addressing this issue.

We are seeing rapidly increasing renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar, coming into power grids. But while this is certainly great for the environment, on their own, they do not offer the resiliency and security power networks require. What happens if the wind stops blowing or skies are cloudy? When energy from renewable sources outstrips demand, however, it can be used to create green hydrogen. Termed ‘power-to-X-to-power’, or, in this case, power-to-H2-to-power, hydrogen offers a storage solution for renewable energy, as it can be converted back into electricity using gas turbines when required. When hydrogen is used to create electricity by combining it with oxygen from the air, there is zero impact on the environment with the only emission being water.

The HYFLEXPOWER project will use power-to-H2-to-power at Engie Solutions’ CHP facility to produce electricity for recycled paper manufacturing processes at the Smurfit Kappa PRF’s site in Saillat-sur-Vienne in France. When there is surplus renewable electricity, this will be used to produce hydrogen from water using a Siemens Energy electrolyzer. An existing Siemens SGT-400 gas turbine, upgraded for use with up to 100% hydrogen, will then convert the stored gas back into electricity when needed.

The project has appeal to both industry and the environment as it not only maximizes the use of green energy, but also ensures robust and secure electricity for the plant. If there is not enough hydrogen, the turbine will operate on a mix of hydrogen and natural gas. Ultimately, any increase in percentage volume of hydrogen to power the turbine will deliver enormous reductions in carbon emissions. The SGT-400 turbine at the Smurfit Kappa site, when operating on 100% green hydrogen, will save the planet from up to 65,000 tons of CO2 emissions – which will be amazing!

What does the future hold?

Siemens Energy’s industrial gas turbines can already operate on a mixture of up to 75% hydrogen by volume and our aim is to reach 100% by 2030. One of the biggest challenges of the HYFLEXPOWER project is to create a combustion system in the turbine that can run anywhere between 0 and 100% hydrogen, removing dependency on hydrogen supplies. Once more hydrogen turbines are installed, this will help push larger scale production of green hydrogen and create a stronger economy for this environmentally friendly fuel.

For the Middle East…

From my perspective, we have no choice but to embrace projects such as these. At Siemens Energy we will continue researching and testing to further develop our turbines to burn higher percentages of hydrogen and the move to pure hydrogen is the natural next step. I believe the HYFLEXPOWER project will be a huge success and define a pathway to slashing carbon emissions in power generation. For the Middle East, with temperatures reaching new highs, we cannot wait to slow the tide of climate change and we need to continue pushing for more industrial scale new energy projects.

For everyone…

It is only through collaboration and shared expertise that we will find the solutions to the problems we face today. Although we have urgent challenges to address to preserve our environment, this is an exciting time for new possibilities and opportunities of which HYFLEXPOWER is just one example.