Wärtsilä has successfully operated a new 100% hydrogen engine supplying electricity to Spain’s national grid in Bermeo, northern Spain, marking what it describes as the world’s first demonstration of a large-scale engine running exclusively on pure hydrogen. The test represents a step beyond hydrogen-ready systems, showing that engine-based power generation can operate on 100% hydrogen under real grid conditions. The Wärtsilä 31H2 engine, part of the company’s Wärtsilä 31 platform, is currently undergoing performance validation at the site. “This is a trial for the future of renewable power,” said Rasmus Teir, Director of Technology Strategy & Decarbonisation at Wärtsilä. “Today, our Wärtsilä 31H2 hydrogen engine is operating on 100% hydrogen and supplying power to Spain’s national grid.” The company says the demonstration supports the case for flexible, dispatchable generation needed to balance growing shares of wind and solar power. Green hydrogen, which produces no carbon emissions at the point of use, can also provide long-duration energy storage and grid stability during periods of low renewable output. Wärtsilä adds that the hydrogen-fuelled engine platform could in future serve energy-intensive sectors such as data centres and industrial facilities, as well as off-grid applications.The Bermeo trial builds on earlier work with hydrogen-ready engine power plants and comes as Spain continues to expand its renewable energy system and reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports.

Washington-based Twelve has opened AirPlant One, which it says is the first commercial-scale facility in the United States producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from CO₂ and renewable electricity. The plant also produces e-naphtha. “The ribbon cutting, held at the Moses Lake, Washington facility with Alaska Airlines and Microsoft, marks the beginning of commercial-scale production and sets the stage for commercial flights in the U.S. powered by jet fuel made from air,” the company said on Wednesday.

Alaska Airlines will operate regular domestic flights using e-SAF produced at AirPlant One. Microsoft supported the scale-up through an investment from its Climate Innovation Fund and a sustainable aviation fuel offtake agreement. “Using a book-and-claim accounting model, pioneered alongside Alaska Airlines, this agreement will allow Microsoft to reduce reported emissions associated with business travel. This partnership underscores Microsoft’s commitment to advancing clean energy solutions with transformative impacts for aviation and global industry.”

A European consortium has launched HyCavern, a three-year project to develop and validate underground hydrogen storage based on mined, lined rock caverns for regions where conventional storage is not feasible. “A key ambition of HyCavern is to make underground hydrogen storage more scalable and replicable by adapting cavern designs to diverse geological conditions,” the consortium said. Partners include the Clean Hydrogen Partnership and organisations such as SINTEF, Fundación Hidrógeno Aragón, the University of Edinburgh, Hive Ventures, Delft University of Technology, Fraunhofer ILT, the University of Oxford, AGH University of Krakow, Comec Innovative, swisstopo, Baker Hughes, Deloitte, Planck Technologies, and Picum.

EWE and Salzgitter Flachstahl have signed a seven-year agreement for the supply of 10,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year from 2030. “This is the first major purchase agreement for hydrogen from the 320 MW production plant EWE is building in Emden and also Salzgitter AG’s first major contract with a hydrogen supplier,” Salzgitter said after the signing in Berlin.

A research team from the University of Perugia has demonstrated that large-scale integration of surplus PV electricity with industrial alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is technically feasible under projected 2030 power system constraints in Italy. The study, published in Renewable Energy Focus, finds that a modular AWE configuration with up to nine parallel trains, each rated at 20 tonnes H₂/h, enables load-following operation while maintaining stable electrochemical performance, thermal management and efficiency across a wide operating range. The modelled system achieves electrolyzer load factors ranging from around 3% in winter to 97% in peak summer periods.