Mitsubishi Power, a power solutions brand of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), has conducted the world’s first power generation test on a large frame gas turbine using a fuel mixture of 30% hydrogen while connected to the local power grid and using hydrogen produced and stored on the same site. The demonstration took place within Takasago Hydrogen Park.

On November 30, Mitsubishi said it had executed a fuel blend of 30% hydrogen and natural gas demonstration at partial load and full load using a grid-connected 1,650℃ class J-series Air-Cooled (JAC) gas turbine.

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 natural gas to hydrogen fuel blending is possible during partial-load and full-load operation, Mitsubishi explained.

The test was carried out at the T-Point 2 Combined Cycle Power Plant Validation Facility with a rated output of 566 MW within Takasago Hydrogen Park, within its Takasago Machinery Works in Takasago City, Hyogo Prefecture in west-central Japan.

Taksago Hydrogen Park entered full-scale operation in September 2023. At this facility, MHI conducts hydrogen production demonstration of key technologies developed at Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park, a center dedicated to the development of the company’s energy decarbonization technologies.

Mitsubishi Power intends to continue utilizing the facility to establish hydrogen-fired gas turbine technology and facilitate the arrival of a carbon-neutral society.

In 2024, Mitsubishi Power plans to conduct a 100% hydrogen-firing demonstration using a small- to mid-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, the company will proceed with the expansion of the hydrogen storage facility and perform a demonstration using a 50% hydrogen blended fuel.

Takashi Tozawa, Senior Fellow, Senior General Manager, GTCC Business Division of Energy Systems at MHI, said: “We see Takasago 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.”