Rolls-Royce and SOWITEC team up to boost power-to-X projects

October 6, 2022, by Ajsa Habibic

Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems and renewable energy projects developer SOWITEC have agreed to cooperate with the aim of providing power-to-X projects with a total electrolysis capacity of up to 500 MW by 2028.

As explained, the plants will use renewable energy sources to generate electrical power that will be used to produce hydrogen with mtu electrolysers.

This hydrogen can be used as fuel for fuel cells and hydrogen engines, to produce industrial feedstock and to produce sustainable e-fuels for marine, aviation, agriculture, mining and data centre power.

“With this project, we are actively working to reduce greenhouse gases in industry. We are convinced that with our new sustainable mtu technologies and through the cooperation with SOWITEC, we can successfully drive the expansion of power-to-X plants“, explained Andreas Görtz, president of the Sustainable Power Solutions business division at Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

For this cooperation, Rolls-Royce will contribute with its own new products for the production and use of sustainable fuels based on green hydrogen, including mtu electrolysers, mtu fuel cell systems and mtu hydrogen engines, as well as experience with hydrogen ecosystems and in the simulation, design and optimization of decentralized energy supply systems.

“We have already been working on power-to-X plants since 2017. In Rolls-Royce Power Systems, with its innovative products and global sales and service network, we see a competent partner to jointly deliver integrated green hydrogen ecosystems from a single source”, said Frank Hummel, CEO of SOWITEC Group GmbH.

“We are pursuing the vision of a global energy supply based on renewable energies and providing access to clean and affordable energy for all people and are developing competitive projects accordingly.”

In 2021, Rolls-Royce announced through its ‘Net Zero at Power Systems’ sustainability program that it would realign the product portfolio of its business unit Power Systems so that by 2030, sustainable fuels and new mtu technologies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 35% compared to 2019.

This near-term target plays an important role in the Rolls-Royce Group’s Net Zero ambition by 2050 at the latest.

In the meantime, the company is already operating an mtu fuel cell system, developing electrolysers to produce green hydrogen, and gradually releasing its main engines for sustainable fuels such as hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO). The mtu gas engine portfolio is currently being prepared for hydrogen as a fuel, thus enabling a carbon-neutral energy supply.