Paul Stein’s thoughts on sustainability and electrification
When I look back to life pre-COVID 19, one of the world’s most important tasks was to find a way to live more sustainably, and the aerospace and power generation industries were at the forefront in addressing that challenge.
And when I look forward to a post-COVID 19 world, when we can be with each other again, I truly believe that interest in sustainability will be stronger than ever. In aviation we will have come to recognise how much travel and human interaction means to us and be even more committed to ensure it continues as we better understand the frailty of our planet and the fragility of humankind.
We’ve taken great steps at Rolls-Royce with our three-pillar sustainability approach of developing the gas turbine to even greater efficiency, supporting the introduction of Sustainable Aviation Fuel and creating new, disruptive technologies such as electrification.
One of the great endeavours in the latter category has been our E-Fan X programme in partnership with Airbus. From our side, this has involved creating a hybrid-electric power generation system at a scale never previously seen in our industry, comprised of an embedded AE2100 gas turbine driving a 2.5MW generator and 3000V power electronics and an electric propulsion unit. What has been particularly encouraging has been the amount of industry interest and support for this programme, and I know everyone at Rolls-Royce and Airbus has been truly grateful for that.
As with all such leading-edge programmes, we constantly evaluate the best way forward and it has become clear to both parties that the actual requirement to carry out a test flight with all the elements integrated is not critical at this time. As an aircraft, E-Fan X was always designed to be a demonstrator only and never for actual use as a product in service.
From the Rolls-Royce perspective, our power generation system can and will be integrated into any future aircraft that is developed requiring a hybrid-electric propulsion system, including a comprehensive flight-test programme to ensure that all industry safety requirements are met.
So as a result of that joint decision we have agreed that the actual E-Fan X programme will now conclude. We thank Airbus and all of our respective partners for their co-operation and support over the last three years.