JERA kicks off H2 demonstration at LNG power plant in Japan

Japanese energy giant JERA starts a hydrogen utilisation demonstration project at an LNG thermal power plant in Japan, aiming to develop zero-emission thermal power.

JERA wants to reduce its use of fossil fuels and to develop thermal power that emits no CO₂ during generation.

Noted, it has been working to eliminate CO₂ emissions from its businesses by 2050.

The company plans to reduce emissions by gradually increasing the utilisation rates for hydrogen and ammonia as fuel.

This demonstration project falls under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s Green Innovation Fund program.

It will switch a portion of the LNG fuel used to generate electricity to hydrogen. This will take place at JERA’s large-scale LNG thermal power plant in Japan. After that, it will evaluate the resulting operational and environmental characteristics.

This will last approximately five years, from October 2021 to March 2025.

The energy giant will conduct a feasibility study early in the project. Based on the results, it will construct hydrogen supply facilities at its LNG thermal power plant. Also, it plans to install combustors capable of co-firing hydrogen and LNG in its gas turbines.

Most importantly, it will switch approximately 30 per cent of the LNG used for electricity generation to hydrogen by 2025.

This is Japan’s first initiative to use a large amount of hydrogen as fuel in a large-scale commercial LNG thermal power plant.