For the past two decades in the U.S., replacement of retiring coal‐fired power generation — alongside an increase in natural gas and renewable power — has been very effective in decarbonizing the power grid. However, in some areas, the retirement of coal has largely run its course. Which is why for the next phase of decarbonization, green hydrogen is playing a larger role as a win-win solution.
At Mitsubishi Power Americas, we’re leading this charge with green hydrogen solutions. Our cutting-edge hydrogen-ready gas turbines and large-scale, long-term hydrogen storage solutions are enabling the transition to a net zero carbon future.
Hydrogen in Action
Hydrogen has several industrial uses today. Many experts believe in a future of “green hydrogen society” that uses hydrogen to fuel transportation, generate electricity and even heat homes. In fact, stored renewable power will be supplied to the Los Angeles basin and other power users throughout California and Utah. Hydrogen appears poised to become an essential part of California’s push to reach 100 percent zero-carbon electricity by 2045.
Hydrogen-Ready for Deeper Decarbonization
As regions increasingly emphasize energy system decarbonization, power producers are choosing hydrogen pathways to support their clean energy transition. Mitsubishi Power’s hydrogen-ready M501JAC, an enhanced J-Series air-cooled gas turbine, lays the groundwork for a carbon-free future. At commercial operation, the gas turbines are capable of operating on a mixture of 30% hydrogen and 70% natural gas, which can be increased to 100% hydrogen in the future with minimal existing infrastructure modification.
Integrated Green Hydrogen Solutions
The world’s only standard integrated green hydrogen package, the Hydaptive™ combined power and storage system, provides renewable energy flexibility by incorporating hydrogen into other energy options. Acting as a near-instantaneous power balancing resource, the Hydaptive™ package enhances the ability of a simple cycle or combined cycle power plant to ramp output up and down and provide grid stabilizing services.
Focused on site integration, the Hydaptive™ package supports the whole ecosystem—electrolyzer, storage medium, and gas turbine—to enable renewable energy to be converted into hydrogen, stored for an extended period of time, and then converted back to usable electrical energy using a hydrogen-capable gas turbine. The Hydaptive™ package also includes patent-pending TOMONITM software and control system to enable rapid load response for greater flexibility.
The Hydaptive™ package can be combined with Hydaptive™ storage, which provides access to large-scale off-site hydrogen production and storage infrastructure. When combined, these two packages enable large-scale renewable energy storage that shifts variable renewable energy over time, from hours to seasons, and provides reliable and cost-effective carbon-free energy when the grid needs it most.
Together, the two packages help power plant operators and power transmission companies integrate renewable energy, gas turbine, green hydrogen, and fuel storage technology to drive the momentum towards a 100% carbon-free power generation.
Can green hydrogen solve the Western U.S. grid’s supply and demand problem?
Download this white paper to learn how green hydrogen is the most reliable, cost-effective long-duration energy storage option for the Western U.S. grid.
Advanced Clean Energy Storage
In order to store renewable energy for long periods of time, we created our Advanced Clean Energy Storage project in partnership with Magnum Development in Delta, Utah. This facility is the world’s largest renewable energy storage project, and we believe it demonstrates the path to a decarbonized power grid for the Western United States.
It leverages salt dome technology to develop storage caverns, each capable of storing enough green hydrogen to provide 150 GWh of clean energy. More than 40,000 shipping containers of lithium-ion batteries would be needed to produce an equivalent number of megawatt-hours.
Advanced Clean Energy Storage is a solution critical to achieving the next step in decarbonization. It has the capacity to store months of power generated by excess renewable resources, fundamentally changing the way we store energy.
The World’s Largest Renewable Energy Storage Project
Learn more about Advanced Clean Energy Storage
Download a detailed infographic depicting how the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project will produce green hydrogen from excess renewable energy.
