The people of the Italian city of Venice have become the first in the world to benefit from a zero-emissions power plant fuelled by hydrogen.
Italian utility Enel has announced that it has successfully started operating the Fusina power plant, which generates 12 MW of electricity using only hydrogen supplied by a nearby petrochemical facility. The start-up of the plant marks a key milestone in an initiative led by the Venice Industrial Union to develop hydrogen technologies for transportation and electricity generation.
Fusina uses a combustor that was specifically developed for the project by Enel and General Electric Oil & Gas Nuovo Pignone. Initial testing of the turbine on methane was carried out earlier in 2009 and the plant was switched to hydrogen following the opening of a new pipeline from the Polimeri Europa cracking plant.
In addition to its 12 MW capacity, Fusina generates an additional 4 MW through the re-use of heated gas produced by its turbine in the site’s existing coal-fired power plant. Its operation avoids the emission of more than 17 000 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions, according to Enel.
Fusina is the first of its kind in the world and is one of several projects being developed under the Hydrogen Park initiative, which aims to foster the development of hydrogen technologies in Italy’s Porto Marghera area. The hydrogen used to fuel the facility is a byproduct of the nearby cracker’s manufacturing processes.
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