SSE (LON:SSE) and Siemens Energy (FWB:ENR) have launched a new collaboration, Mission H2 Power, aimed at developing gas turbine technology capable of running on 100% hydrogen.
The project will be used to support the decarbonisation of SSE Thermal’s Keadby 2 Power Station in North Lincolnshire which is powered using Siemens’ SGT5-9000HL gas turbine.
Under the new collaboration, Siemens will develop a combustion system for the turbine that will be capable of operating on 100% hydrogen, while having the flexibility to operate with natural gas or any blend of the natural gas and hydrogen. For this, Siemens will need to build additional facilities at its clean energy centre in Berlin in order to conduct tests of the technology for large gas turbines.
Both partners will jointly invest in the project, and while they did not provide a specific figure, they described it as a multi-million-pound co-investment.
© Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/BlThis comes as SSE Thermal is also working on the Keadby Next Generation Power Station in partnership with Equinor (OSLO:EQNR), which it says could be the world’s first 100% hydrogen-fuelled power station by 2030. Separately, SSE and Equinor are also collaborating on the Keadby 3 project, which SSE says could become the UK’s first power station equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
The companies said that low-carbon power stations would be essential to providing a clean power system in the UK, with such plants providing a flexible back-up to a renewables-led system. The UK government is targeting the decarbonisation of the country’s power grid by 2030. SSE and Siemens pointed to an analysis from the National Energy System Operator (NESO), which had found that around 7GW of low-carbon flexible power would likely be needed on the UK grid by 2035, with around half of that capacity to be provided by hydrogen-fired power stations.
The new collaboration will build on previous work the two companies have partnered on in the area of clean hydrogen development. In statements on the latest collaboration, executives from both companies highlighted the role hydrogen could play in a decarbonised grid.
“As the UK’s clean energy champion, SSE is uniquely positioned to take a leading role on the deployment of low-carbon flexible power stations,” stated SSE Thermal’s managing director, Finlay McCutcheon.
“Our projects will be pivotal in providing flexible backup to renewables and while we still need to see a rapid acceleration in policy and deployment, the need for this technology is beyond question – it is a matter of when not if and this partnership can help us reach that destination as soon as possible,” he continued.
“We are living in a transformative time for the energy sector,” added Siemens Energy UK&I’s vice president, Darren Davidson. “Our HL-class gas turbine has set records for efficiency and power performance. This new collaboration is a significant step in reaching the point where large gas turbines can run on 100% hydrogen.”
The announcement also included a statement from UK Minister for Industry Sarah Jones, who reiterated the government’s desire to make the UK a global leader in hydrogen. She added that it is projects such as Mission H2 Power that would help the Labour government achieve clean power, thereby shielding the country from the “rollercoaster of unstable fossil fuel prices” while bolstering its energy security.
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