Rolls-Royce commissions test bench for mtu hydrogen engines for climate-neutral power supply

• Next step towards Net Zero ambition: mtu gas engines become hydrogen-capable
• 10 million euro invested in test bench modernization, hydrogen infrastructure and environmental protection measures at Augsburg site

Rolls-Royce has commissioned its first in-house test stand for mtu hydrogen engines at its Augsburg site. “This marks another milestone on the road to climate-neutral products for energy supply,” explained Andreas Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce’s Power Systems division, during the official commissioning in Augsburg. Over the past year and a half, the company has invested around ten million euros at Rolls-Royce Solutions in Augsburg in test bench modernization, hydrogen infrastructure and other measures as part of its ‘Net Zero at Power Systems’ climate protection program.

Rolls-Royce had announced in 2021, as part of its ‘Net Zero at Power Systems’ sustainability program, that it would realign its product portfolio so that by 2030, sustainable fuels and new mtu technologies can achieve greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 35 percent compared to 2019. The company is now already successfully operating an mtu fuel cell system, has released its power generation gensets for sustainable fuels such as HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oils), and is developing electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen. The mtu gas engine portfolio is being prepared for hydrogen as a fuel, thus enabling a climate-neutral energy supply.

“To reduce CO2 emissions in electricity supply, renewable, often decentralized, energy sources are needed to generate electrical energy on a much larger scale than today. In conjunction with these renewable sources, we see hydrogen as an essential energy carrier of the future.  That is why we are doing everything we can to gradually bring our mtu gensets and CHP units based on the Series 500 and 4000 gas engines to market for operation with a hydrogen blending of 25 percent by volume (H2) and more and for operation with up to 100 percent by volume,” said Dr. Otto Preiss, Rolls-Royce Power Systems Chief Technology Officer and COO.

The Power Systems division of Rolls-Royce has set itself strict targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations as part of its climate protection program: With ambitious interim targets for 2030, the company aims to be climate neutral worldwide by 2050, and in Germany as early as 2045. “The environmental protection measures now implemented at Rolls-Royce Solutions in Augsburg will benefit both the company and the city of Augsburg,” explained Tobias Schnell, Managing Director of Rolls-Royce Solutions Augsburg GmbH. These included, for example, feeding residual industrial electricity into the public grid or using waste heat from the test stands to air-condition buildings.  At the Augsburg site, (bio-)gas engines and, in the future, hydrogen engines are developed and tested, and gas engine-based systems are built and maintained, which are used, for example, in combined heat and power plants to generate electricity and heat.

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

1. Rolls-Royce pioneers the power that matters to connect, power and protect society. We have pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in our operations by 2030 (excluding product testing) and joined the UN Race to Zero campaign in 2020, affirming our ambition to play a fundamental role in enabling the sectors in which we operate achieve net zero carbon by 2050.
2. Rolls-Royce Power Systems is headquartered in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany and employs around 9,000 people. The product portfolio includes mtu-brand high-speed engines and propulsion systems for ships, power generation, heavy land, rail and defence vehicles and for the oil and gas industry as well as diesel and gas systems and battery containers for mission critical, standby and continuous power, combined generation of heat and power, and microgrids and is intensively engaged in the development of climate-neutral solutions.
3. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces and navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
4. Annual underlying revenue was £10.95 billion in 2021, underlying operating profit was £414m and we invested £1.18 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 28 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
5. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a publicly traded company (LSE:RR., ADR: RYCEY, LEI: 213800EC7997ZBLZJH69).