Hydrogen power project gets ambitious timeline

INNIO said it is working with Germany’s Stadtwerke Kiel to convert the coastal power plant in Kiel so that it can operate on 100% green hydrogen by 2035, 10 years ahead of the German government’s climate targets. (Image: INNIO)

Engine maker INNIO plans to convert a German power plant to 100% green hydrogen by 2035.

The company said it is working with Stadtwerke Kiel to convert the coastal power plant in Kiel so that it will allow it to operate on 100% green hydrogen by 2035,10 years ahead of the German government’s climate targets. The company said an important requirement for keeping to the schedule is that sufficient green hydrogen is available in time and on economic terms. The facility is a 190 MW engine-based combined heat and power plant.

“There is no getting around this basic law of physics,” said Dr. Jörg Teupen, Board Member for Technology and Personnel at Stadtwerke Kiel AG. “In order to achieve climate neutrality for this type of power plant operation, hydrogen must be readily available to us. However, this is dependent on Europe having an abundance of hydrogen available over the coming years.”

The two companies said their joint ambition is founded upon the “Eight-Point Program: Route to Climate Neutrality” established by Stadtwerke Kiel AG. With this adopted program is the energy supplier pushing ahead with the energy transition. With the original aim to be fully climate neutral in the generation of power and district heating by 2040 at the latest. The energy supplier has now brought this date forward by five years to 2035 based on its hydrogen project.

“We are setting new global standards in collaboration with Stadtwerke Kiel,” said Dr. Olaf Berlien, president and CEO of INNIO. “The coastal power plant in Kiel is the first of its kind globally whose technology could theoretically be converted to green hydrogen today. Nevertheless, for the conversion to happen no later than 2035, policymakers need to put the correct framework in place right now.”

The Stadtwerke Kiel coastal power plant supplies more than 73,500 homes with ecofriendly district heating and also generates electricity for the region. In doing so, the highly flexible large-scale engine-based combined heat and power plant ensures there is a secure and environmentally friendly supply of energy. INNIO’s Jenbacher engines are the first hydrogen engines at megawatt scale. The company, based in Tyrol, Austria, is among the first to be able to convert the majority of its installed engines to run on green hydrogen. The conversion of Jenbacher engines from natural gas to green hydrogen will result in the advanced, flexible coastal power plant becoming entirely climate neutral by 2035.