RWE and Kawasaki’s new hydrogen turbine: a step towards reliable clean power
As renewable electricity expands, the energy transition increasingly depends on technologies that can provide dependable power when wind and solar output is low. RWE and Kawasaki Heavy Industries have taken a practical step towards addressing that challenge in Lingen, Germany.
Walerian Majewski ·
On 6 November 2026, the partners marked the commissioning of a 34 MW hydrogen-compatible gas turbine at RWE’s Emsland power station. The installation will undergo several months of trials involving different operating conditions and fuel mixtures, including up to 100% hydrogen. It is a significant opportunity to turn engineering development into operational experience at industrial scale.
The project also brings an important question into focus: how can hydrogen contribute to reliable electricity supply while making responsible use of renewable energy?
The answer depends on both conversion efficiency and the value of having electricity available when it is needed most.
The power-to-hydrogen-to-power pathway involves converting electricity into hydrogen, storing or transporting that hydrogen where required, and subsequently converting it back into electricity. Each stage consumes energy.
For context, the UK House of Lords’ assessment of long-duration storage cites round-trip efficiencies of around 30–40% for hydrogen production and reconversion to electricity. Actual performance depends on the electrolyser, generation technology, operating conditions and system boundaries.
An illustrative calculation makes the distinction clear. If an electrolyser converts electricity into hydrogen at 70% efficiency and a generating unit converts that hydrogen back into electricity at 40%, the combined efficiency is 28%, before additional losses. Both efficiencies must use the same hydrogen heating-value basis. These are illustrative assumptions, not specifications for Kawasaki’s turbine.
Efficiency therefore remains an essential design objective. Better performance reduces the electricity needed to produce hydrogen and the fuel required to generate each megawatt-hour.
Lingen’s immediate contribution is to advance the practical readiness of hydrogen power generation.
The commissioning announcements do not report a measured improvement in full-cycle electrical efficiency. The ability to operate on pure hydrogen is a fuel capability. It does not, by itself, establish a higher power-to-hydrogen-to-power efficiency.
What the trial does provide is an opportunity to demonstrate operation across changing fuel compositions and load conditions. Hydrogen for the tests comes from the neighbouring GET H2 Nukleus electrolysers, bringing production and reconversion together at one site.
That experience can help future projects make better engineering decisions. Reliability, operating flexibility, maintenance requirements and integration with hydrogen supply all influence whether a technology can be deployed confidently. Demonstration projects create the evidence needed to move those decisions beyond design assumptions.
The strongest potential application is electricity supply during extended renewable shortfalls.
For frequent, short-duration storage, high round-trip efficiency carries substantial economic value. Hydrogen’s potential becomes more compelling where large quantities of energy must remain available for long periods and be converted into electricity relatively infrequently. Underground storage, where suitable and available, can support that role. The House of Lords’ assessment identifies this combination of long storage duration and infrequent cycling as a particularly relevant application for hydrogen.
In such a system, the value of a generating unit includes its ability to supply power during prolonged periods of scarcity. Evaluating that role requires consideration of storage capacity, fuel availability, investment costs and the alternatives available to the electricity system, alongside efficiency.
This is a potential future application of the technology.
The location gives the project a useful foundation for learning.
Kawasaki describes the Emsland site as a developing hub for producing, transporting and using renewable hydrogen. Its L30A turbine project, supported by Japan’s NEDO, forms part of that broader effort. Bringing these activities together provides a setting in which equipment and operating practices can be developed in relation to the wider hydrogen chain.
From an industry perspective, this integration can create benefits beyond the turbine itself. Projects of this kind can help clarify requirements for valves, seals, instrumentation, gas detection, fuel conditioning, control systems and engineering services. They also give operators and suppliers opportunities to develop skills and establish working relationships around real installations.
For future commercial deployment, several conditions will still matter: competitively supplied low-carbon hydrogen, suitable infrastructure, dependable equipment and a market framework that recognises the value of available generating capacity. Efficiency improvements will strengthen that proposition.