World first: Gas turbine successfully operates with 100% green hydrogen

Latest test results on the Siemens Energy SGT-400 industrial gas turbine show the turbines can be fueled with up to 100% hydrogen, as well as with natural gas and any blends in between.

The successful demonstration took place at the HYFLEXPOWER project site at the Smurfit Kappa paper packaging plant in Saillat-sur-Vienne, France.

The project aims to show that it’s possible to convert an existing gas-fired power turbine to operate using renewable hydrogen and that hydrogen can be used as a flexible energy storage medium.

According to Siemens Energy, in 2022, initial tests saw the gas turbine operate with a 30% hydrogen content, mixed with natural gas. Now the power-to-hydrogen-to-power demonstrator has proven that turbines with dry low emissions technology can be fueled with up to 100% hydrogen as well as with natural gas and any blends in between.

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"The knowledge and experience gained from the HYFLEXPOWER project where we installed the 1st gas turbine to run on 100% hydrogen will help us to continue develop our entire gas turbine fleet for a hydrogen-based future. The interaction between electrolysis, storage and hydrogen conversion at one site has been impressively demonstrated, and now it's a matter of scaling the results," says Karim Amin, member of the Executive Board of Siemens Energy.

HYFLEXPOWER project

The HYFLEXPOWER consortium includes Siemens Energy, ENGIE via its subsidiary ENGIE Solutions, Centrax, Arttic, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and four European universities.

For the demonstrator project, hydrogen is produced by a 1MW electrolyser on-site, and then stored in an almost one-tonne tank and used to power a Siemens Energy SGT-400 industrial gas turbine.

The project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, is now looking to extend its operation to industrial heat production and the consortium is exploring ways of scaling up and commercialising the project.

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Frank Lacroix, ENGIE executive vice president in charge of Energy Solutions, commented on the achievement: "At ENGIE, we are very proud of this world first. The HYFLEXPOWER project is remarkable for many reasons: for the exceptional collaboration it has enabled between several European partners, for the forward-looking technologies it has tested, and for the promising prospects it opens up for the use of renewable hydrogen in the industrial sectors most difficult to decarbonize. We look forward to continuing this decisive work for the future of decarbonized industry with our partners.”

“We’re proud that our Saillat paper mill has been the host for this project because trialing new and emerging technology, such as hydrogen, aligns with our decarbonization strategy and Better Planet 2050 journey. Today’s announcement is a great milestone that puts us in good stead,” says Garrett Quinn, chief sustainability officer at Smurfit Kappa.

Smurfit Kappa is one of Europe's leading producers of corrugated packaging, containerboard and ‘bag in box’ packages.