American electric power and natural gas provider Duke Energy Florida has unveiled the country’s first demonstration project with an end-to-end system that can produce, store, and combust up to 100% green hydrogen.

The DeBary Hydrogen Production Storage System in Volusia County, Florida, uses solar power from Duke Energy Florida’s existing DeBary solar site, which provides energy for two electrolyzer units that separate water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen atoms. The resulting oxygen is released into the atmosphere, while the green hydrogen is delivered to reinforced containers for safe storage.  During times when energy demand is highest, the system delivers the stored green hydrogen to an existing combustion turbine that has been upgraded – using GE Vernova technology – to run on a blend of natural gas and hydrogen or up to 100% hydrogen.

The company says this flexibility diversifies its generation fleet and supports the expansion of renewable energy. Because the green hydrogen is an on-demand source of energy, the turbines can be turned on and off at any time, independently of the weather conditions or the time of day. Moreover, the site’s reliability allows for more renewable, yet intermittent, energy sources such as solar that displace the cost of fuel for customers while still meeting rising customer demand.

Duke Energy Florida is a subsidiary of Fortune 150 company Duke Energy and owns 12,300 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.