US electric energy utility company Duke Energy (Charlotte; North Carolina; www.duke-energy.com) is planning to build an end-to-end solar-powered system to produce, store, and combust 100% green hydrogen in the state of Florida.

The demonstration project to take shape at the company’s DeBary site near St. Petersburg is to be realised in collaboration with construction management and consulting firm Sargent and Lundy (Chattanooga, Tennessee; https://sargentlundy.com) and the GE Vernova unit of General Electric (www.ge.com). 

Heralded as the first of its kind in the US, the facility would serve to add more power to the area’s electricity grid, Duke said. Construction is expected to begin before the end of 2023, with the start of operations pencilled in for some time next year.

An existing 74.5-megawatt solar plant at the site is designed to provide clean energy for two 1 MW electrolsyer units that would produce 100% green hydrogen.

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According to the company’s concept, the resulting oxygen would be released into the atmosphere and the green hydrogen delivered to nearby reinforced containers for safe storage. At times when energy demand is highest, the operating mode calls for transferring the stored hydrogen to a combustion turbine (CT). 

The GE Vernova technology is planned to be upgraded to run on a natural gas/hydrogen blend or up to 100% hydrogen. It would be first in the US to run on such a high percentage of hydrogen, the future operators assert.

Having carbon capture and long-term storage attached to the system has the advantage of ensuring grid reliability as Duke Energy continues to add more renewable energy sources to its system, said Regis Repko, senior VP for generation and transmission strategy.