H2 Power Generation: Duke Energy Florida Testing Green Hydrogen Mix
Duke Energy Florida is working to become one of the biggest utilities producing green hydrogen at scale for blending and decarbonizing the power generation mix.
The utility’s DeBary Hydrogen Production Storage System has two electrolyzers powered by Duke Energy Florida’s DeBary solar site. The electrolyzers split water into its hydrogen and oxygen atoms, separating H2 without carbon emissions.
Green hydrogen is delivered to reinforced containers for safe storage. Hydrogen can be produced via several methods, but to be classified as green hydrogen it must be split by electrolyzers powered by carbon-free resources such as wind, solar, hydro or nuclear.
When energy demand is highest, the system delivers the stored green hydrogen to an existing combustion turbine that has been upgraded, using GE Vernova technology, to operate on a blend of natural gas and hydrogen or up to 100 percent hydrogen. The process makes the natural gas turbines more flexible and diversifies Duke Energy Florida's generation fleet to support the expansion of renewable energy.
"Diverse generation is strong, reliable generation," said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president, in a statement. "The DeBary hydrogen project underscores Duke Energy Florida's deep understanding of that notion and our commitment to making strategic infrastructure investments that will allow us to continue providing value for our customers while meeting their rapidly increasing demand for energy."
The turbines can be switched on and off at any time, not depending on the time of day or the weather, as the green hydrogen is an on-demand source of energy. The site's reliability allows for more renewable energy sources displacing the cost of fuel for customers while meeting rising customer demand.
Hydrogen is a light, energy-dense gas which is abundant in the universe but is complicated to generate and collect at commercial scale. It does not produce CO2 emissions at the point of use.
Companies working on hydrogen consumption to generate power include fuel-cell developers such as Bloom Energy and Plug Power, while other utilities such as CenterPoint Energy and Dominion have worked on test projects focused on production and blending. Traditional power turbine makers such as GE Vernova, Siemens Energy and Mitsubishi Power all are testing H2 blends in decarbonizing gas-fired generation.
About the Author
EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
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