hydrogen

The CEOG scheme consists of a 55 MW solar park and 140 MWh storage station based on hydrogen which, according to the project developer, enables the storage of large amounts of energy for long periods

A new report published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers outlines the potential for power to gas as a technology to support the addition of renewable energy capacity to the grid, and as a storage alternative with advantages over much talked about lithium-ion technology.

The goal of the project, RE 8760 is to show how the storage of renewable energies can make them usable all year round. The generated solar power is stored and converted into hydrogen. It can also be conserved over long periods and used to recharge fuel cell vehicles during the dark winter months.

For decades, hydrogen has been sold to us as the energy carrier of the future. You might not want to hear it anymore, because the future never seems to start. But times will change as recent developments in Germany indicate, writes Berlin-based renewable energy consultant, Stephan Franz.

Panel discussion at Energy Storage Europe tackled the issue of whether the best way for keeping the lights on as economies around the world grow is to extend the grid network or add energy storage, and found that the best solution lies somewhere in between.

French firm Neoen has begun development on a hydrogen electrolyser to be colocated alongside a 150 MW wind project and 150 MW solar farm. The project has been awarded a grant of AU$1 million by the South Australian Renewable Technology fund, with more funding yet to be approved.

Scientists at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) have demonstrated the first working example of a “proton battery”, which utilizes a carbon electrode and a reversible hydrogen fuel cell for the storage of energy. The scientists say their small prototype has already demonstrated similar storage capacities to commercially available lithium-ion batteries, with plenty of potential for further optimization.

As Energy Storage Europe approaches, pv magazine counts down the five highest-ranked energy storage highlights, selected by our independent jury, that visitors to the exhibition can lay their eyes on. In fifth-place was Electrochaea’s scalable methanation plant: A rather quirky hydrogen-to-methane storage innovation that won plaudits for delivering large-scale power-to-gas capability.

There is a solid business case to combine PV plants with electrolyzers, as generation costs are low enough to competitively produce hydrogen as a fuel, says Bjørn Simonsen of NEL Hydrogen. He will speak at pv magazine’s Future PV event at SPI in Las Vegas.

The €2.5 million EU Horizon 2020 project coordinated by HZB tests materials to stabilize a membrane for photovoltaic-based hydrogen production.