Renewable Energy Solar Energy Wind Energy Geothermal Energy Bioenergy Hydropower

Hydrogen Enables Storage of Excess Wind Power in Spain

February 6, 2006 | 10 Comments

Do you like this news?

Bookmark

Feed

Mississauga, Ontario [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Hydrogenics will deliver its HySTAT-A Hydrogen Station to Gas Natural SDG, a Spanish-based energy services multinational with approximately ten million customers living in Spain, Latin America, Italy and France. The hydrogen will fuel an internal combustion engine generator at the Sotavento Galicia wind farm, which will supply electricity to the electrical grid.

"One of the biggest challenges with wind power is that unused energy cannot be stored for later use when the wind isn't blowing. Hydrogen solves this problem. As we will prove at this location, excess electricity from wind can produce hydrogen to fuel an internal combustion engine, essentially turning that excess wind power back into electricity that people can use."

-- Pierre Rivard, Hydrogenics, President and CEO

The Sotavento Galicia wind farm currently loses revenue by producing more electricity than can be delivered to the grid, as the excess "green" electricity cannot be stored or delivered to the electrical grid. By powering the HySTAT Hydrogen Station with the excess wind energy, Gas Natural will provide the means to capture high value electricity that otherwise would have been lost and use it to make more electricity for the grid than before.

"This project demonstrates the role that hydrogen can play as an energy carrier," said Pierre Rivard, Hydrogenics President and Chief Executive Officer. "One of the biggest challenges with wind power is that unused energy cannot be stored for later use when the wind isn't blowing. Hydrogen solves this problem. As we will prove at this location, excess electricity from wind can produce hydrogen to fuel an internal combustion engine, essentially turning that excess wind power back into electricity that people can use."

The project at the Sotavento Galicia wind farm is completely green and is the sixth project that Hydrogenics has announced with various worldwide customers where hydrogen stations are powered by wind or solar energy. This latest hydrogen station, which represents a contract worth more than EUR 500,000 [USD $600,000], is complete with outdoor housing and auxiliary equipment. Installation and commission is expected by September 2006.

Additional Information

Hydrogen - Fuel Cells, Wind Power

10 Reader Comments

Comment
1 of 10

tom-street-46029

February 6, 2006

I am interested in the reasons why there is excess wind power,i.e., why the grid cannot use the wind power when it is produced.

Obviously, an abscence of immediate demand will result in unused wind power. The question is, could we solve this problem by pushing the widespread development of Hybird PHEVs or pure electrics to take up the slack. Recharging batteries seems to be an attractive option since the recharging could be done on an intermittent basis.

Hydrogen seems like better than nothing, but at what cost? Are there other alternatives, such as better load management which could deal with this problem. Perhaps the SOLAR PV market would also have a role to play here as the batteries supporting these systems could also be charged on an intermittent basis at night or on cloudy days.

Comment
2 of 10

charles-butterfield-36244

February 6, 2006

(continued)

Also, critics will point out that a fuel cell is much more efficient than an internal combustion engine, and therefore fuel cells, not the internal combustion engine should be used to generate electricity.

If there is adequate capital available to buy fuel cells that is true. However, in many cases the capital is not available to buy the fuel cells which are many times more expensive to buy than the internal combustion engine for the same amount of generating capacity.

I suspect that limited capital is the main reason they chose to use an internal combustion engine here.

In my opinion, sometimes it is better to go with what you've got and what you can get rather than to wait and hold out for perfection.

Thank you,
Charles Butterfield

Comment
3 of 10

charles-butterfield-36244

February 6, 2006

Thank you for this information. I think that this is a step in the right direction.

The critics of this will point out that storing hydrogen produced electrolytically, then burning that hydrogen in an internal combustion engine to produce electricity at a later time is inefficient.

However if the electricity is not stored when more electricity is produced by wind power than is needed at the time, 100% of that electricity is lost.

As I see it, that is really inefficient.

In my opinion, it is better to store the xcess energy, and get a fraction of that back at peak times when more electricity is needed, than to lose all of that energy because there is no way to store it.

Thank you,
Charles Butterfield

Comment
4 of 10

charles-butterfield-36244

February 7, 2006

Thank you, Tom:

In general excess energy is generated at night when usage is generally relatively low compared with usage during the day.

Electric vehicles which can be charged at night when electricity usage is low is an excellent way to store excess electrical energy produced at night when demand is relatively low.

Thank you,
Charles Butterfield

Comment
5 of 10

charles-butterfield-36244

February 8, 2006

Thank you Elizabeth:

The hydrogen produced could also be used as a transport fuel when there are enough vehicles set up to be fueled with hydrogen.

Thank you,
Charles Butterfield

Comment
6 of 10

charles-butterfield-36244

February 8, 2006

Thank you, Tom:

Production of hydrogen electrolytically at night when there is generally excess electrical generating capacity is an excellent use of excess generating capacity.

Thank you,
Charles Butterfield

Comment
7 of 10

elizabeth-marshall-33783

February 8, 2006

I find this very interesting but wonder if anyone has looked at the comparative economics of using the hydrogen for transport fuel rather than electricity generation?

Comment
8 of 10

alexander-koleoglou-39054

February 8, 2006

During winter months the excess electricity can be used for heating homes. Storing excess electricty can be used in wayss sthat are being used today that uses excess power during evening hours and take advantage of the reduced electrical rates.

Comment
9 of 10

tim-dolan-26615

February 8, 2006

Even when stored in a 100 lb steel cylinder at 2000 PSI, Hydrogen can store 75 times more energy than a 100 lb battery.
1 "K" cylinder holds 240 cubic feet of H2 which equates to 78,000 btu's or 22.8 kWh of clean sustainable energy.

Comment
10 of 10

mike-wilson-45788

February 10, 2006

Great conversation! Hydrogen is an excellent energy storage medium. Perhaps the Spanish will run their H2 powered generator during peak times and peak price to increase their ROI. The extra cash could buy a more efficient (than ICE) fuel cell thus being able to sell even more electricity during peak times. This model allows intermitant energy generators (usually sustainable) to maximize profit by shifting their supply to peak hours, retaining their inventory of energy via storage in H2. Nice!

Add Your Comment

Registered users, please make sure to Sign-In. We and others want to know your ideas and opinions. If you are not yet Registered -- it's quick and easy. Just click below.
Thanks!