Rolls Royce successfully tests hydrogen plane engine in world first

The test was carried out in collaboration with easyJet, which plans to operate hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2035

(Getty Images)

Rolls-Royce has successfully run an aircraft engine on hydrogen, the brand has announced.

The aero-engine manufacturer revealed on 28 November that it had completed the ground test using a converted Rolls-Royce AE 210 at the Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down site in Amesbury, Wiltshire, using green hydrogen created by wind and tidal power from the Orkney Islands.

This is the first time this has been done globally, and marks a major step towards decarbonising air travel, Reuters reports.

Rolls-Royce chief technology officer Grazia Vittadini said: “We are pushing the boundaries to discover the zero carbon possibilities of hydrogen, which could help reshape the future of flight.”

Rolls-Royce carried out the test in partnership with airline easyJet. The ambitious scheme seeks to prove that aircraft engines can be powered safely by hydrogen alone.

A second set of tests using the fuel is already in the works, with long-term plans for full flight tests.

EasyJet announced that it would be making the switch to hydrogen fuel in September this year, in what chief executive Johan Lundgren is calling the company’s “most ambitious airline net-zero roadmap to date”.

The aim is to have an “easyJet-sized aircraft” carrying 200 passengers powered by hydrogen by 2035.

Chief executive Lundgren previously told The Independent: “We continue to also work with Wright Electric as well. But what we have said all along is that we are quite indifferent in terms of what technologies will be there.

“We know that electric might form part of the solution, with a hybrid solution, hybrid electric, and remember that an electric engine can actually use hydrogen as the energy source, so that’s not out of the picture at all.

“But I think right now, the most promising of these technologies is really the solution that Rolls Royce is working on.”

Business secretary Grant Shapps said the UK is “leading the global shift to guilt-free flying”.

However, Dr Arnold Gad-Briggs, who sits on the transport panel at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said the country is still “a long way from applying it to a real-life scenario, such as a flying testbed powered by hydrogen engines.”

Although hydrogen is touted as one of the key technologies that could help the aviation industry reach Net Zero by 2050, the huge changes in airport and aircraft infrastructure required for its use pose significant barriers to widespread rollout.