Mitsubishi Power, a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), successfully executed a fuel blend of 30% hydrogen*1and naturalgas demonstration at partial load and full load using a grid-connected state-of-the-art 1,650°C class J-series Air-Cooled (JAC) gas turbine, a press release said on Wednesday. The demonstration took place at the T-Point 2 Combined Cycle Power Plant Validation Facility with a rated output of 566megawatts (MW) within Takasago Hydrogen Park,*2 within its Takasago Machinery Works in Takasago City, Hyogo Prefecturein west central Japan. Using hydrogen produced at Takasago Hydrogen Park, this demonstration was the world’s first power generation test ona large frame gas turbine using a fuel mixture of 30% hydrogenwhileconnected to the local power grid and using hydrogen produced and stored on the same site. Mitsubishi Power will continue utilizing Takasago Hydrogen Park—a facility that makes the integrated validation of hydrogen production, storage, and utilization (power generation) possible—to establish hydrogen-fired gas turbine technology and facilitate the arrival of a carbon-neutral society.
The demonstration was conducted using results obtained through a project subsidized by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), using a Dry Low NOx (DLN)combustor. The demonstration verified the achievement of the same low nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and stable combustion during hydrogen co-firing, and that switching fuels from naturalgas to hydrogen fuel blending is possible during partial-load and full-load operation.
In 2024, Mitsubishi Power plans to conduct a 100% hydrogen-firing demonstration using a small- tomid-sized H-25 gas turbine (40 MW class) that had been previously installed for compressor driving at the combustion test facility in the park. Additionally, Mitsubishi Power will proceed with the expansion of the hydrogen storage facility and perform a demonstration using a 50% hydrogen blended fuel.
Mr. Takashi Tozawa, Senior Fellow, Senior General Manager, GTCC Business Division of Energy Systems at MHI, said, “We seeTakasago Hydrogen Park making a significant contribution to the implementation of hydrogen power generation through improvements in product reliability based on verifications and accelerated commercialization. The 30% hydrogen co-firing demonstration with the JAC gas turbine is an unprecedented and significant milestone toward the energy transition, and we are proud that MHI is able to play such an important role.”
The MHI Group is pursuing the Energy Transition as an engine for corporate growth based on its declaration of “MISSION NET ZERO,” targeting carbon neutrality by 2040. The MHI Group will continue to leverage Takasago Hydrogen Park to accelerate the development and actual equipment validation of hydrogen production and power generation technologies. Through its highly reliable products, the MHI Group will continue to contribute to the stable supply of electricity worldwide and the rapid realization of a carbon-neutral society.
