Duke Energy Florida unveiled what it calls “the nation’s first system capable of producing, storing and combusting 100% green hydrogen.”
The system comprises two 1-MW electrolyzers with a 2,500 kg hydrogen storage tank, located at Duke’s existing DeBary solar facility, a 74.5-MW array originally completed in 2020. The hydrogen demonstration project was first announced in 2023, and construction was completed on schedule in late 2025.
Duke Energy says the stored hydrogen will be used to fuel a GE Vernova 7E combustion turbine (one of four such turbines already present at the site), which has been upgraded to run on a blend of natural gas and hydrogen, including the ability to run on 100% hydrogen.
The turbine can deliver up to 60 MW of power for 30 minutes when running solely on hydrogen, which will be used to support the grid at times when energy demand is highest. The power-to-power hydrogen system has an expected operational life of 20 years.
The power-to-power hydrogen process
The DeBary hydrogen facility uses the electrolyzers to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is then stored as compressed gas in an on-site tank, while oxygen in the water is released into the atmosphere.
The DeBary facility is a proof-of-concept project that establishes how end-to-end green hydrogen systems can become technically viable in the United States. A statement provided to pv magazine USA from Duke Energy Florida said the successful test of this small-scale system means the utility “can begin considering future plans for expansion and building it to scale, which would further diversify and strengthen our generation fleet, helping us continue to provide safe, reliable power for our more than 2 million Florida customers.”
The promise of green hydrogen
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that clean hydrogen stored in above-ground containers (such as those used in the DeBary facility) could achieve a levelized cost of storage of $0.16/kWh by 2034. However, this figure would continue to be significantly less economical than battery storage.
In addition to cost concerns, the process of generating power from electrolyzed hydrogen also faces some criticism for being more resource intensive and less efficient than other methods of energy storage. A 2025 analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that less than 1% of hydrogen produced in the U.S. in 2050 will come from electrolysis.
Plug Power says its polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis method uses about 3.2 gallons of filtered water to produce one kg of hydrogen. A Duke Energy Florida fact sheet about the Debary facility says the site will initially use groundwater from the St. John’s River Water Management District, but will eventually switch to using reclaimed water. That can alleviate some of the concerns over resource usage.
As for efficiency, an assessment of power-to-power renewable energy storage using hydrogen showed the process has a round-trip efficiency of between 22% and 29%. That compares unfavorably with NREL’s most recent estimate of round-trip efficiency for lithium-ion battery storage at 85%.
That said, clean hydrogen advocates point to other potential benefits of hydrogen electrolysis, such as its ability to address difficult-to-decarbonize sectors like heavy industry and transportation, the potential for using hydrogen as long-duration energy storage and rapid reductions in the cost per kWh of storage at large scale.
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