UK utility Centrica and Japanese-owned Mitsubishi Power Europe have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the potential to develop Europe’s first ammonia-fired power plant.

The demonstration plant would be located on the site of the Whitegate gas-fired power station in Cork, Ireland. The existing station is operated by Irish utility Bord Gais Energy, which is owned by Centrica.

“This is one of the many projects Centrica is working on to demonstrate how the hydrogen economy could work in practice,” said Chris O’Shea, the company’s group CEO. “In this instance, we hope to be able to show how hydrogen could be stored and transported as low-carbon ammonia, delivering cleaner energy for customers at the point of use.”

The project would serve as a demonstration site for ammonia-fired power generation technology, providing insight into the feasibility and scalability of low-carbon ammonia as a green fuel and shaping the future of power generation worldwide, Centrica said.

Centrica would source low-carbon ammonia from the global market via its trading network.

Global supply of clean ammonia is expected to be significant as many green hydrogen producers see it as good option for seaborne exports of their product. However, production costs remain high and some suppliers are struggling to secure offtake agreements

“Low-carbon ammonia has a higher volumetric density than hydrogen, enabling the utilisation of low-carbon hydrogen in a form which is easy to transport and store,” Centrica said.

Use of low-carbon ammonia as a generation fuel has up to now been largely confined to Japan, where co-firing with coal is seen as a potential option for reducing emissions.

Japanese energy firm JERA is trialling co-firing at its Hekinan power plant. The company estimates it would need 500,000t/yr of the fuel for co-firing at a 20/80 ratio with coal from 2027.

"Mitsubishi Power is the frontrunner in the development of technology to enable the direct firing of ammonia for power generation, harnessing our 50-year pioneering experience in low-carbon gas turbine and hydrogen fuel combustion technologies,” said Javier Cavada, EMEA CEO at Mitsubishi Power.

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Author: Stuart Penson