Market Forecast: Cleaner Peakers Will Transition to Hydrogen

Cleaner Peakers Transition to Hydrogen

The future will require a secure and reliable grid. Power producers realize that that simple fact is not a new one, but the difference is that the market and environment in which we must create and sustain this grid is a vastly more complicated one that existed in decades past. One of the main factors we face is electrification. The stark reality of the immediate future of electrification is that utilities and power producers will have to balance addressing the need for two things simultaneously:

1.) continuing to provide clean, reliable generation when other energy sources are unavailable, and

2.) addressing these requirements in a socially equitable and just way.

In many cases, for many regions, deployment of both combined cycle and peaker plants is the answer to striking this balance. While many already recognize the need for peakers, what might be overlooked is the fact that they will need to be bigger and more powerful than what the industry is accustomed to. This is where innovation, collaboration, and flexibility will come into play.   

Given the economic, social and environmental factors, the energy industry must utilize peakers that can be operated sustainably to match decarbonization goals. Hydrogen has emerged as a popular topic across the energy sector, and rightly so. It is a versatile element with many capabilities. In our case here, the first step is to run highly efficient advanced class turbines on natural gas while also transitioning to a green hydrogen fuel mix. Green hydrogen — hydrogen produced by splitting water molecules via electrolyzers powered by renewable energy — holds great potential as a fossil fuel replacement because once it is generated, it can be used at any time of day.

The proof-of-concept for 30% hydrogen mix in Mitsubishi Power’s JAC gas turbine has now moved into implementation through partnership with Chevron New Energies, a division of Chevron U.S.A. INC. at the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES Delta) Hub in Delta, Utah. The hub will use excess renewable energy to convert green hydrogen and store it in two massive salt caves underground.  

The neighboring power plant, IPP Renewed, will accommodate an 840-MW gas turbine combined cycle plant initially powered by a blend of hydrogen and natural gas. By 2045 or sooner, it will run on 100% hydrogen. The hydrogen produced at ACES Delta will supply the hydrogen to IPP Renewed.​​

The ACES Delta Hub provides a potential blueprint for how transitions to emission-free power plants can work at an industrial scale for sites with similar capabilities. And the result is simple, straightforward, and desired - this energy hub will provide large-scale, year-round power to the western U.S. 

But ACES Delta is not the only successful example of hydrogen blended as a fuel for power generation. An economically successful energy transition requires the integration of new technologies and adapting and future-proofing existing infrastructure. At Plant McDonough-Atkinson in Smyrna, Georgia, Mitsubishi Power demonstrated the feasibility of a 20% hydrogen fuel blend at an existing gas turbine power plant without major modifications. Not only are advanced technology heavy-duty gas turbines hydrogen-capable, but they also meet the greater load requirements driven by electrification and overall power supply needs. 

Changes like these are what the grid will ask of power producers and developers in the coming years if the United States is to meet its decarbonization goals. The energy sector certainly has its work cut out for it for the next decade, and what it requires now is unprecedented collaboration, flexibility, and innovation to meet the demands of the future.  

Continue the story and explore the key role of peakers in decarbonization and how new solutions are helping meet the need for increased capacity on the path to net zero by downloading our playbook here.