EDP intends to develop a pilot hydrogen production project with storage at the Ribatejo Combined Cycle Plant, with support from the European Union. The project, after the approval, will start at the beginning of 2020. The construction of the demonstration part, at the Ribatejo Combined Cycle Plant, is scheduled for 2022.

With a 1MW electrolyser with a storage capacity of 12 MWh, the project will be a benchmark and one of the largest of its kind in Portugal. For certain, this will be the technology for future hydrogen production, allowing renewable usage, and it is also essential for Portugal to achieve carbon-neutral targets by 2050.

Through a benchmark international joint venture in this sector, EDP – through the NEW R&D Center for New Energy Technologies and EDP Production – leads the industrial-scale demonstration pilot at that plant. A team of approximately 50 EDP professionals will be involved.

This project fits in with the company's strategy of seeking low carbon generation solutions from an integrated energy perspective that will simultaneously involve the electrification of consumption and the production of non-emitting greenhouse gas fuels.

The main goal of the project is to develop new power-to-X-to-power (P2X2P) integrated solutions in combined-cycle thermal power plants - CCPP and in dedicated hydrogen and ammonia-fired turbines. It also aims to demonstrate that a hydrogen injection in natural gas pipelines is a solution which will, in future, lead to economies of scale in the generation, transport and distribution of hydrogen.

With this project, EDP intends to gain hands-on experience in hydrogen production and its conversion into electricity, including laboratory validation of other concepts and will enable in-depth analysis of the hydrogen value chain by studying the most favorable applications and business models.

For EDP CEO, António Mexia, “Hydrogen is a clear alternative in implementing the new energy world. As leaders of the energy transition, we are continually evaluating and testing potential energy production alternatives. Our focus on hydrogen R&D, from electrolysis, has the ambition of finding alternative, better, and more sustainable, business models. We will not only test hydrogen production in gas power plants, but also from offshore wind power. Portugal can aspire to be at the forefront of hydrogen developments over the next decade and to combine these achievements with renewable usage, which is essential to achieve carbon-neutral targets by 2050."