| | JUNE - 20229E ERGYTech Reviewconverted into CCPPs, thereby reducing emissions while reus-ing infrastructure.However, natural gas is still a fossil fuel. So, we also need to find ways to lessen its impact. One possibility is carbon capture. More importantly, we need to prepare gas turbines for clean fu-els, mainly hydrogen. For example, Siemens Energy recently an-nounced that its SGT-800 gas turbine has 75 percent hydrogen co-firing capability with a clear roadmap towards 100 percent . Two of these turbines are going to be part of the Leipzig Süd district heating power plant in Eastern Germany. Together we'll demonstrate zero carbon gas turbine operation at utility scale. Clearly, we're not the only ones pushing this vision. Accord-ing to major OEMs, new gas turbines should be capable of firing 100 percent hydrogen as of 2030. And together, we face the same hurdles. For one, hydrogen production needs to increase while production cost must conversely decrease. Moreover, the infrastructure for distributing and storing hydrogen is still largely missing. Yet, the state of today's hydrogen technology can be com-pared to the early days of wind and solar. As with these re-newables, major investments need to be made for hydrogen production. Which is why a project like the world's first Power-to-X-to-Power demonstrator named `Hyflexpower' is highly rel-evant. At a paper factory in Saillat-sur-Vienne in France, Hyflex-power will use a turbine capable of firing 100 percent hydrogen. Driven by a consortium including Siemens Energy, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), other companies and universities, its first firing is planned for 2023. There are obviously other means for supporting the exit from coal. For example, using turbine or generators to stabilize the grid with their rotating mass. Though not producing power themselves, they supply grid stability, which in turn allows more renewables being added to the grid. Siemens Energy is current-ly involved in several projects pursuing grid stabilization, e.g., converting two former power units for this purpose at energy company Uniper's Killing holme site in Lincolnshire, UK. Hybridization of power plantsLooking ahead, we see several more technological building blocks that can be integrated into future net-zero energy, heat, and cold supply. And that's why it's often apt to talk about "hy-brid power plants". These could include a mix of wind and PV, energy storage, and back up power as well as intelligent control systems. Nearly all decarbonized hybrid power plants will be tai-lored solutions. Let's look at one example. Currently, one of the world's first commercial hybrid power plants will be built in French Guiana. It will combine PV, batteries, an electrolyzer and a fuel cell. Scheduled to be commissioned in 2023, it will sup-ply 10,000 households day and night with electricity generated solely from solar power. This will be possible by combining a 55-megawatt photovoltaic field with 40 MWh batteries, a hy-drogen electrolyzer, and the largest fuel cell of its kind for power applications.Also, different energy storage solutions could be integrated in a hybrid power plant. Next to hydrogen for long-term energy storage, we have batteries for short-term, or mechanical mid-term electricity storage solutions. They all enable power supply when renewables can't. Deep decarbonizationAs much as hybrid power plants signal the future, a full-fledged decarbonized economy needs to go beyond that. This deep de-carbonization relies on sector coupling. It works by transferring renewable power to all energy-consuming parts of the econo-my, such as buildings, mobility, or industry. This is possible, e.g., with electrolyzers producing green hydrogen. It can be stored and used as feedstock for chemical industries, as fuel sources for fuel cell electric vehicles, producing very high temperature heat for process industries, and re-electrification.Another lever of sector coupling with more short term per-spective is power-to-heat. Currently, there are promising pilot projects in this direction.For instance, together with its partner Vattenfall, Siemens Energy is currently in-stalling a heat pump in the center of Berlin. This novel high temperature heat pump supplies heat to an exist-ing district heating system based on pump feeds into the district heating network that uses waste heat from a cooling chiller plant and electricity from renewables. It's an environmentally friendly, innovative way of linking heating, cooling, and electricity.Decarbonization is possible ­ we just need to act nowThe net-zero economy we're striving for is indeed a challenge. But the good thing is, many technologies have already been implemented in different parts of the world and with differ-ent partners. They demonstrate how transitioning to net-zero energy production can work, and how customers' individual interests can best be served.As we forge ahead, it's clear that we need more pilot proj-ects like that in Berlin and invest more in designing future-proof energy systems. From a political standpoint, governments could create financial incentives and establish regulatory frameworks that could tremendously help in the process of turning pioneer-ing concepts for our energy future into reality. As much as hybrid power plants signal the future, a full-fledged decarbonized economy needs to go beyond that
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