Plans for hydrogen-burning power plants draw fire in New York

Pressure is mounting on New York state regulators to reject NRG Energy Inc.'s proposed hydrogen-compatible repowering of its half-century-old natural gas-fired Astoria power plant in Queens, N.Y., after an environmental agency released several draft permits for public comment in June.

"This project is an affront to efforts made in New York to combat the climate crisis," state Sen. Michael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader, said in written testimony filed Aug. 24. The facility "does not comport" with New York's landmark 2019 climate law that set targets of 70% zero-carbon power by 2030 and 100% by 2040, according to Gianaris.

NRG pitched the "state of the art" power plant, along with a 24-MW energy storage component and eventual full conversion to "zero-carbon" hydrogen, as a pathway to help reliably decarbonize New York's grid. But natural gas is "still a fossil fuel," and the company's hydrogen vision "does not carry water, either, as that technology is questionable and years away from use in any event," Gianaris said.

From NRG's perspective, however, the Astoria replacement project is "ideal for New York" because if hydrogen sourced from renewable energy resources is not viable by 2040, "then NRG will cease operating the project in accordance with the law," company spokesman Dave Schrader said in an email. The project will also create more than 500 jobs and lower electricity costs by $1.5 billion in its first five years of operation, he added.

Still, one persistent concern about building the 437-MW plant in an industrial area of Queens known as "Asthma Alley" is dangerous nitrogen oxide emissions associated with hydrogen combustion, an issue that environmental group Earthjustice highlighted Aug. 31 in a new report.

"The air quality impacts of combustion turbines will not only persist if they transition to hydrogen but will worsen absent satisfactory advances in emission control technology," the report stated, citing research from turbine manufacturer General Electric Co., the supplier for the proposed Astoria repowering. Moreover, the vast majority of hydrogen in use today is produced with natural gas, though efforts to establish renewable energy-sourced hydrogen are gathering momentum, including in New York.

Earthjustice is part of a coalition of public interest groups advocating for the replacement of New York's aging fossil fuel-fired peaker plants with renewable energy and energy storage instead of relying on gas. The group warns a "deluge of hydrogen hype" could blind policymakers to the negative air-quality impacts of some hydrogen uses, especially involving combustion, but its message seems to have gotten through to Gianaris and other members of New York's political elite lined up against NRG's proposal, including U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer.

But a growing number of such projects could be Trojan horses in a nationwide push for the next generation of natural gas power plants, hydrogen combustion critics say.

"It's something you're especially going to see in states that have a very strict renewable portfolio standard," Sara Gersen, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, said in an interview. "Because in a state that doesn't have a renewable portfolio standard, you can propose a gas plant without bothering to pretend that it's ever going to be compatible with achieving our climate goals."

Not all hydrogen is equal

A similar battle is playing out roughly 70 miles north of New York City in Newburgh, N.Y., where developer Danskammer Energy LLC has encountered stiff resistance to its proposed repowering of the Danskammer Energy Center with hydrogen-ready turbines from Mitsubishi Power Americas Inc., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

Several other plants designed to burn low levels of hydrogen with natural gas are under development across the country, from Virginia and Pennsylvania to Utah and Texas. The first such major plant in the United States is scheduled for completion in Ohio in November.

In California, which plans to decarbonize its power system by 2045, the state's Department of Water Resources intends to purchase five 30-MW natural gas-fired power plants to help avoid blackouts. Although the facilities are considered temporary solutions in response to an emergency declaration issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom to keep the lights on amid a summer capacity crunch, one state official touted them as "hydrogen-capable in the future."

Even if gas-hydrogen co-firing plants are able to eventually shift to 100% hydrogen, Earthjustice, the Union of Concerned Scientists and other groups say burning it may never be green, regardless of whether the energy carrier is derived from renewable energy instead of natural gas.

Turbine makers are working to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, but some skeptics have suggested placing a moratorium on permitting such projects until their progress has been confirmed by independent public health experts. Opponents of hydrogen combustion, however, are not opposed to all uses of the fuel.

The "least-regrets use" is replacing fossil fuel-based hydrogen as an industrial feedstock — in oil refining and fertilizer production, in particular — with hydrogen made from renewables, according to the Earthjustice report. Harnessing green hydrogen for long-duration energy storage and relying on fuel cells, which emit only water vapor, are also worth exploring as means of reaching deeper levels of decarbonization, the report said.

"There is that small slice of the electricity supply that will likely take some technological innovation to decarbonize," Gersen said. "And we don't know what that winning technology is. We don't know what combination of green hydrogen or other advanced storage technologies might come into play."