Singapore’s Energy Market Authority has granted PacificLight Power (PLP) the rights to build, own and operate a 600MW hydrogen-ready combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant on Singapore’s Jurong Island.
Expected to power up in January 2019, the H-class CCGT will boast “at least” 600MW of capacity, working alongside PLP’s existing 830MW CCGT and 100MW of fast-start capacity, which is expected to start operations in Q2 this year.
The plant will be capable of using at least 30% hydrogen on start-up, but PLP intends for it to burn 100% hydrogen “in the future.”
Set to be built on a greenfield site, the company says the plant will include a large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS).
Additionally, PLP said the site could accommodate a second CCGT unit, as well as future integrated carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) technology.
“By integrating hydrogen-ready and battery storage technologies, the new facility will position PacificLight to transition to a low-carbon future,” said Yu Tat Ming, CEO of PLP.
As nations look to clean up energy systems, hydrogen in power generation has been gaining attention, with estimates suggesting that 5.2GW of hydrogen power could be online by 2030.
Asia-Pacific, in particular, has been leading the charge, with various Asian countries looking to bolster capacity. Singapore’s National Hydrogen Strategy claimed that low-carbon hydrogen could meet half of the nation’s power needs by 2050.
The IEA’s picture of hydrogen in power generation
With nations racing to decarbonise their energy systems, the role of hydrogen and derivatives in cleaner power generation has long been highlighted as a key element in bridging between periods of high and low renewable energy generation.
At the end of 2023, global installed power capacity using hydrogen and ammonia reached around 330MW, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global Hydrogen Review 2024.
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region accounted for more than 50% of the capacity, followed by North America with around 30% and Europe with 15%.
However, this picture is set to shift. By 2030, the IEA estimates, if all 32 announced hydrogen power generation projects are realised, capacity could total 7.1GW – or 5.2GW if projects at “very early stages” are excluded.
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