Rolls-Royce working on hydrogen engines for stationary systems

British manufacturer leads a consortium to create hydrogen combustion engines for use in stationary systems

By: Francesco Barontini

Jun 30, 2024 at 4:15am ET

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Rolls-Royce will not only tackle the ecological transition with electric cars. The British carmaker has started work on a special highly efficient hydrogen combustion engine to charge stationary energy storage systems.

Rolls-Royce will lead a consortium of five companies and research institutes funded by the German government through the Phoenix (Performance Hydrogen Engine for Industrial and X) project.

Environmentally friendly fuels

The German Federal Ministry for Economics and Climate Protection has allocated around €5 million for the initiative. Jorg Stratmann, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, commented as follows:

"We are convinced that combustion engines will remain an essential part of reliable energy supply during the energy transition. We are making them climate-friendly with sustainable fuels. The Phoenix project consortium, with its combined expertise, is a guarantee of success in tackling this major technical challenge.

Rolls-Royce is working on various climate-friendly solutions and also on e-fuel and methanol. It has also already developed a gas-powered combustion engine that can also run on hydrogen, but with the Phoenix project the idea is to develop technology for a newly developed product that reaches new levels of efficiency.

Photo taken at the official start of the Phoenix project

A flexible energy system

The Phoenix project is a three-year project and, thanks to contributions from the Munich Faculty of Engineering, Mahle Konzern, Fuchs Lubricants, Bosch and the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), it should make it possible to develop the necessary components for an engine with a novel injection system and completely new pistons and ignition systems.

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As part of its power plant strategy, which includes the expansion of renewable energies, the German government has decided to build more gas-fuelled power plants to compensate for the variability of renewable resources.

In particular, it is pushing for plants equipped with smaller, decentralised gas engines that can react quickly and flexibly to the fluctuating input of wind and solar energy into the grid. Biogas generators and, in some cases, the first gas engines converted to hydrogen are currently being used to reduce CO2 emissions.