EDP has marked a historic milestone by producing the group’s first hydrogen molecule in Europe and injecting it into a gas turbine in a real industrial environment. This initiative is part of the European FLEXnCONFU project and was carried out at the Ribatejo combined cycle power plant, located in the Lisbon region, Portugal. The goal is to validate the practical application of hydrogen and natural gas co-combustion under operational conditions – a solution still largely unexplored in the energy sector.
The announcement was made during the inauguration of the demonstrator – a 1.25 MW electrolyser – which is part of the broader FLEXnCONFU project (FLExibilize combined cycle power plant through power-to-X solutions using non-CONventional FUels), funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 program. The project is led by an international consortium of 21 partners from 10 European countries, including Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the UK, Greece, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The inauguration ceremony at the Ribatejo plant was attended by the Portuguese Minister for Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, EDP’s CEO, Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, and representatives from the European Commission, among other guests.
FLEXnCONFU aims to demonstrate how combined cycle power plants can become more flexible and efficient by integrating different technologies and enabling more sustainable operations in a market increasingly dominated by renewable energy. The project includes two demonstrators that will convert electricity into hydrogen or ammonia and co-fire them with natural gas. The demonstrator led by EDP in Ribatejo uses hydrogen, while a second one in Italy uses ammonia as an energy carrier – a substance that allows energy to be stored and transported in the form of ammonia – and will be validated in a laboratory setting.
The project began in April 2020 and has gone through several development stages to reach the production of its first hydrogen molecule. It also included independent laboratory tests in the UK and Italy, involving different hydrogen and ammonia blends with natural gas.