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 Posté le: Mar Oct 01, 2013 3:14 am Sujet du message: Hydrogen touted as renewable power storage solutio |
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{Hydrogen touted as renewable power storage solution}
Hydrogenics marketing manager Jose Gonzalez|Nelson BennettBy Nelson BennettTue Jun 25, 2013 12:01am PSTIt may be the perfect marriage of clean energies, if the economics can be made to work.Solar power in Germany is now being used to produce hydrogen from water using technology developed by Hydrogenics Corp. (TSX:HYG), a Canadian company.The hydrogen – which can be stored – can then be converted back into electricity when needed, using hydrogen fuel cells such as the ones made by Ballard Power Systems Inc. (TSX:BLD) or injected into a natural-gas stream to provide a high-energy, clean-burning gas. Power-to-gas is something Powertech Labs – BC Hydro’s research arm – has been developing in a pilot project in Bella Coola, where electricity from a run-of-river project converts water to hydrogen, then converts it back into electricity with Ballard fuel cells.Which begs the question: why consume electricity to produce hydrogen, only to turn it back into electricity?The answer is that,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url], once it reaches a certain critical mass, intermittent power starts becoming a problem for the grid. It can produce electricity when it’s not needed, so it requires some form of storage.“Two-thirds of energy from renewable sources is energy that we really don’t need when it arrives, and so it goes to waste,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url],” Hydrogenics CEO Daryl Wilson said at last week’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Conference 2013 at Canada Place. “The attributes of hydrogen particularly lend themselves to this need area of large-scale grid storage.“The electrical-grid system desperately needs some sort of storage attribute. The natural-gas system has a massive storage attribute. By cross-coupling these two systems with electrolysis, we open up a whole array of business opportunities and functions.”The high price of hydrogen remains one of the barriers to more widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles and utility-scale power generation.Hydrogen is abundant and easily obtained from water through electrolysis – a process so simple it can be done in any high-school lab.But thus far the economics simply don’t work, because the cost of the power needed to drive the process has been prohibitive, so most hydrogen is extracted from hydrocarbons,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url], like methane.Power-to-gas proponents say it now makes economic sense to use pricey intermittent power to create hydrogen as a form of energy storage because so much of the electricity it produces is essentially being given away.Storage has become the new Holy Grail of renewables, because as intermittent energy becomes a significant portion of the grid,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url],[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]discount moncler jackets[/url], it needs to be stored.“I liken the power-to-gas solution as a large shock absorber for the electrical grid,” Wilson said.According to one Powertech insider,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler down jackets[/url], the energy input costs of the Hydrogen Assisted Renewable Power (HARP) project in Bella Coola still outweigh the output value of the hydrogen it creates. In other words, it doesn’t make economic sense.The main value is that any community that is off the grid and has renewable energy needs to have some form of storage,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url], otherwise the energy is wasted.Getting access to a reliable hydrogen supply is one of the reasons Ballard spent $7.7 million last year to acquire reforming technology that allows hydrogen to be made from methanol in its ElectraGen ME backup power systems.Where is Christy Clark’s $16 million hydrogen plant?In 2011, at the last Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Conference in Vancouver,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler on sale[/url], Premier Christy Clark announced $870,000 toward a $16 million hydrogen fuel plant in North Vancouver.The new plant would take waste hydrogen from Erco Worldwide’s chemical plant there, clean it to fuel grade and liquefy it.The new plant would be producing within 18 months, Clark said, and would supply hydrogen to a fleet of 20 hydrogen fuel-cell buses in Whistler, which has to import hydrogen from Quebec.But the plant is still not even close to being built. Hydrogen Technology and Energy Corp. (HTEC) – the developer building the plant in partnership with Air Liquide – now says it will be at least another 18 months before the plant is producing hydrogen.“It got delayed due to challenges of securing the funding,” said HTEC president Colin Armstrong.He added that there were also regulatory obstacles.The plant in North Vancouver makes sodium chlorate,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler outlet[/url], used to make the bleaching agent used in the pulp and paper industry. Hydrogen is a byproduct, but it is contaminated with other compounds. To work in a fuel cell, hydrogen needs to be pure, so it needs to be cleaned up.The new HTEC-Air Liquide plant would produce 1,300 kilograms per day of liquid hydrogen and 400 kilograms of compressed hydrogen gas. Half of the hydrogen produced would go to the fleet of hydrogen buses in Whistler.The HTEC project would include a six-megawatt Ballard-distributed power system. Ballard received conditional funding of $7 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada to help develop its ClearGen system, which would use hydrogen fuel cells for large power generation.The B.C. government confirmed to Business in Vancouver that $570,000 of the $870,[url=http://www.moncler-sale.org]moncler sale[/url],000 committed has been spent to help pay for project design and engineering. The balance will only be paid once other project funding and financing agreements are in place.Tags: Christy Clark, renewable energy, Ballard Power Systems Inc., design and engineering, energy, engineering
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