Hydrogen and Net Zero: How hydrogen as a fuel can help decarbonize the power industry

Hydrogen is becoming an increasingly important solution in meeting Net Zero emissions by 2050. One way to decarbonize the power industry is through the use of hydrogen as a primary fuel. While pipelines can transport hydrogen gas much the same way as natural gas, the hydrogen pipeline infrastructure has limited capacity and coverage in the US. Extending the hydrogen pipeline infrastructure to cover the same reach as the existing natural gas pipeline system will take time, research and substantial capital investment.

As with all major capital undertakings that involve emerging technologies, it is important to de-risk the project sufficiently to assure technology readiness and scalability to support commercial operations, safely and economically. A natural step in that direction is to demonstrate that blending hydrogen with natural gas in existing utility infrastructure is technically feasible. We recently worked on a project to safely blend 20% hydrogen with natural gas to produce electricity at a combined cycle power plant. The result: successful completion of the world’s largest hydrogen blending demonstration in an operating advanced class natural gas turbine and a 7% reduction in carbon emissions. This is a landmark achievement to demonstrate that existing natural gas power plants can be retrofitted to transition from natural gas to hydrogen as a primary fuel.

While hydrogen and natural gas have been blended in a test environment before, it had not been introduced to an operating facility or at this scale. We knew we had a lot of hurdles to overcome to be successful.

Firstly, hydrogen and natural gas differ significantly in their properties, so the case isn’t as simple as replacing one with the other. It requires a comprehensive assessment of factors such as pipeline systems, hydraulics, pressure, temperature, stress, flow, process safety and infrastructure condition, to assure that the system is reliable and safe with no issues or interruptions.

This demonstration proves that we can reduce emissions by retrofitting existing infrastructure to meet the power industry’s climate action goals. Additionally, it is possible to run the combustion turbine at lower outputs while meeting the environmental limits. Advanced combustion turbines could run on 20% hydrogen, which would allow operations to run at lower outputs without shutting down and restarting, improving uptime and energy savings. This groundbreaking work establishes an industry benchmark and best practices on hydrogen as a primary fuel for power generation. With technology readiness, safety assurance and iterative design maturity, utility owners will be better positioned to reduce project risks, obtain project financing and deliver strategic benefits to the stakeholders.

Having transitioned from a theoretical possibility to reality, hydrogen has proven to have the potential to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and accelerate decarbonization efforts in the power industry. To scale up into a fully commercial operation, significant capital commitment and improvements to existing utility infrastructure will be required. To reach a 100% displacement of natural gas, the power industry should look forward to further research, validation of technologies, design assurance, access to capital, new infrastructure, risk management, upskilling/training workforce, operational readiness and efficient execution and delivery of projects. There remain several considerations for the owners and developers to address when exploring hydrogen as a primary fuel for power generation:

• Infrastructure – greenfield vs. brownfield
• Technology evaluation and selection of advanced turbines
• Hydrogen delivery and storage infrastructure
• Operational readiness for safe and reliable operations
• Sustainability, resilience and public equity aspects
• Procurement and supply chain constraints
• Access to capital and environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations
• Project capital financing and insurability
• Skills, training and knowledge management

Over the last decade, governments, companies and communities have set sustainability and net zero goals. To achieve these goals, one of the major trends is to accelerate the electrification of vehicles, assets and infrastructure to achieve 2050 targets. Therefore, investing in clean advanced energy technologies, including hydrogen, microgrids, solar, wind, batteries, pumped hydro storage and carbon capture and storage, is needed for the success of the power industry. Continued collaboration between governments, utilities, financial institutions, original equipment suppliers, engineering and construction firms, environmental consultants, as well as local stakeholder groups are fundamental in achieving certainty in outcomes.

While we don’t have all the answers right now, we are confident we can find a solution by collaborating and working together for one common goal—net zero by 2050.