The Hydrogen Technology Observatory, together with partners such as Siemens Energy, EAG (Empresarios Agrupados – GHESA) and Mitsubishi Power, and with the participation of Ansaldo Energía, held a technical workshop on the state of the art in renewable hydrogen power generation technology, focusing on technological advances and their integration into the energy system. Among findings presented, particular attention was given to gas turbines capable of operating on fuel blends containing 40%, 70% or even on pure hydrogen. The industry’s goal for 2030 is to operate higher-capacity turbines.
Susana de Pablo, Engineering, Technology and Digitalisation General Manager, opened the workshop by placing hydrogen within the context of a broader shift. Europe is moving towards an increasingly electrified model, and a system with more renewables requires, in turn, greater flexibility and greater storage capacity. That is where, as she explained, green hydrogen offers a unique advantage.
She did not present it as “another means of decarbonisation”, but rather as a technology with seasonal potential: capable of storing energy for weeks or months and feed it back into the energy system when needed, thereby also strengthening its resilience. “A clear example of this at European level is Germany. In May 2026, the German Government approved the draft legislation for auctions of new back-up capacity, primarily through combined-cycle power stations. At national level, a Royal Decree (23 June 2026) has been approved to renew 1,200 MW of industrial cogeneration capacity through the construction of new natural gas and biomass power stations, or by upgrading existing ones, with two auctions totalling 600 MW scheduled for 2026 and 2027,” she explained.
She added that “it makes no sense to think only of the turbine. Hydrogen needs a complete electricity ecosystem to support it (production, transport and storage) for the whole system to function.”
“Burning hydrogen to generate electricity is nothing new.” That remark, made by María Jazmín Nieto, Head of Gas Turbine Sales and International Projects at Siemens Energy, aptly sums up the tone of the technical debate that followed. Nieto pointed out that Spain is, in fact, home to one of the world’s pioneering projects in this field: the Puertollano power station, which has been operating for decades using synthesis gas with a high hydrogen content. “Technological maturity is no longer the issue. The challenge now lies in implementation,” she said.
She also gave two international examples illustrating how far this technology has already progressed outside the laboratory. In Brazil, the Braskem Vesta project is operating commercially with 88% hydrogen in its mix; in France, the HyFlexPower project has successfully operated an existing gas turbine fuelled by renewable hydrogen.
For his part, Miguel Churiaque, Ansaldo Energía’s Country Manager for Spain and Portugal, agreed with this assessment and went into more detail about the gas turbine. That is where the greatest technical challenges lie, and also where the greatest value can be added. As an example, he said that his company has allocated more than 200 million euros to electrify its hydrogen electrolysers. He went on to provide a technical detail: all the gas turbines in its current portfolio are already capable of running on a minimum of 40% hydrogen, with the potential to reach up to 70%. Its aim is to achieve commercial operation using 100% hydrogen by 2030.
When hydrogen is fed into a turbine originally designed for natural gas, a phenomenon known as flashback occurs, whereby the flame moves back within the combustion chamber, which can damage the equipment. The most straightforward solution – which would be to lower the temperature – comes at a cost, as it reduces the efficiency of the combined cycle.
The solution devised by Ansaldo Energía has been to redesign the combustion process itself: instead of a single chamber, sequential combustion uses two chambers within the same turbine, which provides greater control and allows for higher percentages of hydrogen to be used.
This was the question that clearly divided the discussion into technical and economic aspects, and on which Nieto was forthright: “It’s not a technical issue.” What is needed, she explained, is a stable regulatory framework, certainty and an economic model that can be financed. Investing in a power station means thinking in terms of 20- or 30-year cycles, and these assets must be able to withstand the test of time and any future technological upgrades. This is the basis for the concept that Siemens Energy advocates as a practical solution: hydrogen-ready – in other words, building plants today that run on natural gas, but which are equipped to switch to hydrogen as efficiently as possible as soon as the supply becomes available.
Churiaque provided further details from a plant engineering perspective. He commented that the conversion requires new equipment, redesigned systems and new pipework, and not all facilities physically have the necessary space. That is why, he said, Ansaldo prefers to take a “project-by-project” approach rather than propose a one-size-fits-all solution.
Regarding the current role of renewable hydrogen in existing infrastructure, Nieto stated that hydrogen being used in a turbine should not be viewed in “isolation”, but rather as part of an energy ecosystem aimed at helping to achieve energy sovereignty, both in Spain and across Europe. According to her approach, hydrogen can meet the demand that renewables are unable to satisfy during periods of low output due to atmospheric conditions, whilst batteries provide short-term resilience.
Churiaque linked that idea to the German case. The fact is that, for combining hydrogen with gas turbines to make sense in a system such as Spain’s, the market must send clear signals to operators through auctions and capacity mechanisms. He pointed out that many of these plants were designed for an operational context very different from the current one, and need the flexibility to adapt to new challenges.
Luis Fernández, Sales Director for New Technologies & Key Accounts at Mitsubishi Power, emphasised during his presentation the need to support operators with technologies that are already mature. He highlighted the company’s project at the Takasago Hydrogen Park, a facility that runs entirely on green hydrogen and supplies electricity to the power grid in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It is a proven use case that has been tried and tested over thousands of hours of operation.
Fernández also emphasised that, when a power station operator is asked what their real concern is, the answer is almost always the same: whether the turbine will continue to operate with the same reliability as it does today. That is the requirement which, in his view, hydrogen solutions will have to meet.
In conclusion, engineering, according to all the speakers, has already been resolved. And there is already a roadmap setting out the steps to build the ecosystem around it that will make it economically viable: stable regulation, a market that sends clear signals, and an infrastructure designed as a whole.
