Electricity and heat all year round with zero greenhouse gas emissions.  This “green dream” is coming true in Austria thanks to a groundbreaking collaboration between INNIO Group and Austria’s largest energy storage company – RAG Austria AG.

INNIO Group’s Jenbacher J412 cogeneration engine installed at the RAG Austria site in Gampern (Photo: INNIO)

In Upper Austria (Oberösterreich), an industrial plant of RAG Austria AG is being supplied with electricity and heat from a Jenbacher cogeneration engine that runs on 100% hydrogen. The hydrogen is produced via electrolysis using excess electricity from solar panels during the summer months and then stored in an underground sandstone reservoir in Rubensdorf, approximately 50 km northeast of Salzburg.

The ‘Underground Sun Storage’ reservoir can hold 1.2 million cubic metres of hydrogen gas. During the winter months, the hydrogen is transported through an 8 km long pipeline to the RAG Austria site in Gampern, where the compressor stations for some of Austria’s largest gas storage facilities are located. The hydrogen is used to fuel INNIO Group’s Jenbacher J412 cogeneration engine that produces 530 kW of electricity plus 550 kW of thermal energy, thereby meeting the site’s power and heat needs.

The Jenbacher Type 4 engine at the RAG Austria site is equipped with a dual-fuel option, enabling it to run on 100% hydrogen or natural gas. It can also operate with impure hydrogen, allowing the direct use of hydrogen from the underground storage without expensive purification. When running on hydrogen, the engine delivers zero carbon dioxide emissions.

With this flagship project, INNIO Group and RAG Austria are taking an important step towards net zero emissions. Working together, they are helping to solve one of the central challenges of the energy transition: how to store surplus solar power from the summer months to be used in winter.  At the same time, the Jenbacher plant in Gampern is an important showcase project for the replacement of natural gas with hydrogen, which is being used to produce electricity and heat without greenhouse gas emissions.

“With our hydrogen energy solution, we are supporting RAG Austria in transforming the energy value chain. Together, we are demonstrating how the decarbonization of communities and industrial sites is possible.” – Dr. Andreas Kunz, INNIO Group’s Chief Technology Officer.

“With the help of Jenbacher technology, we are able to decouple the generation of renewable energy from its consumption, thus enabling sustainable security of supply all year round.” – Markus Mitteregger, CEO of RAG Austria AG.

For their successful collaboration on this project, INNIO Group and RAG Austria AG were presented with the Technology & Innovation Award at the COGEN Europe Recognition Awards Ceremony in Brussels on 14 November 2024.

For more information about INNIO Group’s Jenbacher cogeneration solutions using hydrogen, see the Jenbacher website.

Published on 12 December 2024