Edison collaborates to fuel plant with hydrogen instead of gas

Edison, Eni and Ansaldo Energia will launch a feasibility study to explore replacing natural gas with green or blue hydrogen as a fuel for the new Edison plant in Porto Marghera, the companies announced on Wednesday.

The plant will enter commercial operation in the second half of this year, the companies said, with a total power of 780 MW and will use a high-efficiency turbine equipped using technology designed to be powered by hydrogen.

The companies said that the agreement stems from the need to develop the skills and technologies needed to contribute to the decarbonisation of the electricity sector in Europe.

“Hydrogen is a vector under development that will play an important role in the decarbonisation process of the country. In this context, Edison is developing several integrated projects for the production and use of hydrogen for the benefit of all end uses, from electricity generation to industry and sustainable mobility,” said Giovanni Brianza, Executive Vice President of Edison's energy and environmental services.

Edison said that it has already planned its adoption of gas turbines fuelled by mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas in its new generation combined cycle plants. Hence Edison is collaborating with Eni and Energia to create further decarbonised solutions.

“Eni aims to become the main operator in the production and use of decarbonised hydrogen in Italy,” said Giuseppe Ricci, Eni's General Manager Energy Evolution.