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SMUD Solar Array To Power Its Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles

October 31, 2007 | 7 Comments

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Sacramento, California [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] A new solar array on the SMUD campus will soon provide enough electricity to generate hydrogen for SMUD's small fleet of fuel-cell electric vehicles and provide clean electricity to the grid during peak power demands.

The recently completed photovoltaic (PV) array delivers 80 kilowatts of power produced by the sun, which is enough power to provide hydrogen for about 14 fuel-cell vehicles. Construction on the hydrogen fueling station will be done by the end of the year. Until then, the solar power generated by the panels will feed into the SMUD grid.

Designed as a demonstration project, the solar-powered fueling station will fuel the seven fuel-cell electric vehicles that SMUD is testing in a partnership with BP, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler. As the solar panels make electricity, an electrolyzer at the station will use that energy to separate water into hydrogen to make clean fuel for the vehicles. The amount of hydrogen produced at the site will be kept low for safety considerations.

In addition to the fuel-cell vehicles, SMUD is also testing battery electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid vehicle that gets 100 miles per gallon. SMUD also uses numerous conventional hybrid vehicles as well as several flex fuel vehicles that can use ethanol fuel or gasoline.

Solar Energy

7 Reader Comments

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1 of 7

f-berry-47814

November 2, 2007

Mr. Johnson is right; there are too many inherent dangers in having a scenario where everyone has a small electrolizer about there home. PV arrays in the aear of 2.5 to 5kW could and should be sold as home/car power resources. In fact,...this is where PV is headed.

Start with a 2/5kW unit on your roof or yard, heat the water first with a solar hot water heater, lose the hot water tanks that are always in stand by- then move the PV to function for your car first,..and then have the batteries hold power for the home.

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2 of 7

paul-johnson-34828

November 2, 2007

I'm not sure the storage of Hydrogen as energy will ever be a mainstream. Better batteries are a more likely outcome. Plug in hybrids are much closer so the solar will feed the grid which will feed the batteries.

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3 of 7

ron-luikaart-44350

November 2, 2007

SMUD is demonstrating great leadership in developing renewable alternatives for clean and sustainable energy. If more entities followed Google, SMUD, PG&E and Virgin's lead, we would be looking at a much brighter future.

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4 of 7

mlbooz

November 2, 2007

When will individual homeowners be able to buy an electrolyzer for H2 prodution for their home fuel cell and their car fuel cell? I look forward to distributed, local, personal energy production, rather than more huge corporate electricity production facilities.

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william-hughes-66196

November 4, 2007

I find the worry about the danger of storing hydrogen strange and suspect it is a hold-over from the Hindenburg. Hydrogen is far safer than liquid fuels. Liquid fuels and their vapours are heavier than air and hug the ground looking for a spark. A hydrogen leak goes upwards and is gone. Burning petrol stays around and lights everything as it flows downhill. A hydrogen fire goes straight up and is gone. Anything not lit by an initial hydrogen burn is not exposed to continuous heat from the fire as is the case with liquid fuel. We seem quite happy to have large tanks of liquid fuel all over the place.

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william-hughes-66196

November 4, 2007

Hydrogen has serious limitations as a transport fuel due to the high energy costs to either compress it or to make cyrogenic hydrogen. The same doesn't apply to stationary use and a very old technology can be used at any scale to store the hydrogen. Hydrogen can be stored in tanks consisting of one tank (like a fuel storage tank at a refinery) almost full of water and open at the top and a slightly smaller open bottom tank floating on the water. As gas is introduced, the inner tank floats higher and higher, I wonder if the above project was to store the hydrogen with the above system and use it to generate electricity via a stationary fuel cell to charge battery vehicles, if this wouldn't be more efficient than the present system. Only a comparitive trial would tell.

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murray-rose-67503

December 29, 2007

I am from Australia ,we have huge expanses of solar rich land,the way to go for us is definitely solar powered ,charging stations for electric vehicles and electric/bio-diesel hybrids.This whole revolution away from fossil fuel based energy sources ,leaves future energy industrys in a very 'ad-hoc'style of growth,with a variety of energy sources-bio-diesel, solar,hydrogen,hybrids etc.So,[as long as there is a comprehensive audit done on the REAL amount of carbon emitted in the process of the car being built and the fuel being produced to run the things], the cars leaving the smallest carbon footprint,need to be the ones most heavily subsidised by any government.

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