Solar Hydrogen in Your Future
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By Paul Scott, Staff Scientist, ISE Research

Progress toward a hydrogen economy is picking up to near “warp speed.” Only two years ago, auto companies collectively signed on to the concept that hydrogen stored onboard was the easier path for a fuel cell vehicle. As of the end of 2002, a sixth hydrogen fueling station became operational in California. And, recently, we have had the President speaking the goal that “the first car driven by a child born today be hydrogen-powered.”

It has become well-accepted that hydrogen fuel offers pollution-free transportation, with water as the product of either a fuel cell reaction or of combustion in a lean-burn, internal-combustion engine. Hydrogen also promises to free the nation from the insecurity born of importing fuel from distant and volatile regions such as the Mideast. Hydrogen can be the “home grown” energy solution, and there are growing indications of the will to make this happen.

The Vision and the Reality
The vision of abundant hydrogen energy has been before us since the days of Jules Verne, who wrote of energy from water. The use of solar photovoltaic systems, which turn the sun’s energy to electricity, in combination with electrolysis to breakdown water into its hydrogen and oxygen constituents, was first demonstrated 20 years ago. An early version of the PV hydrogen system was sited at the El Segundo, California [U.S.A.], facilities of the Xerox Corporation. The electrolysis system was packaged in a 40-foot-long shipping container and shipped to the site, then surrounded with the PV array. This system supplied the fuel for a fleet of three maintenance trucks which had been converted to use hydrogen for fuel. Similar but larger systems were demonstrated in Germany.

Wind generation of electricity is developing, like PV, with worldwide growth rates in excess of 36 percent per year over the past several years. In many regions, wind generation offers a more economical means of electricity production, with amortized installed costs of four cents per kilowatt-hour or less. These rates, in combination with prepackaged electrolysis units, offer fuel for costs that may soon be competitive with common fuels manufactured from imported oil (taking into account the added efficiency of a hydrogen-fueled engine).

Iceland and Norway have discussed plans for making fuel from hydro and wind resources. The Japanese Environment Ministry has announced a plan under which the National Institute of Environmental Studies will study the use of offshore floating wind farms to produce hydrogen and pipe it to markets on shore.

The Los Angeles-based South Coast Air Quality Management District, in combination with the U.S. Department of Energy, has a more down-to-earth plan for a wind-hydrogen system, using power from three turbines. On average, this pilot system will produce about 65 kW electrical power and one kilogram hydrogen per hour (and over three times that in full wind conditions). This wind hydrogen system, being installed in North Palm Springs, California [U.S.A.], will have the capability of fueling a fuel cell bus for approximately 12 hours of service per day. Modern turbines, of 1.5-megawatt capability, could each provide fuel for six to eight buses or approximately 500 cars.

The variable nature of wind or sun availability must be understood and accounted for in the design of systems that are required to make fuel available every day. Energy storage requirements vary widely from site to site, but at best will involve several days of storage. As a more demanding example, the Palm Springs wind blows strongly in the summer, but is absent for large periods of the winter. Storage requirements in such areas can be as costly as the wind turbines themselves, especially if geologic formations are not available for storage or if—as in the Palm Springs area—there are earthquake concerns.

Although PV, wind turbine, and hydrogen technologies are in a rapid state of development, it is already evident that, with investment, a major shift from fossil fuels to “home grown solar fuel” can follow. Large-scale implementation can follow the availability of buses and cars at acceptable prices. Providing fuel for significant numbers, say 100,000 cars, conveniently dispensed at service stations, will require initial investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. This investment, however, provides fuel for three million miles per day. One estimate of the cost of this transportation investment suggests an amortized cost of five cents per fuel cell car mile!

The recent introduction in the California Legislature of a bill to authorize a bond issue vote including $500 million for hydrogen infrastructure offers one possible way of “jump starting” the process of putting in generation and distribution. By such means early stages of implementation of hydrogen fueling stations may be sponsored by government teamed with energy firms, but full implementation will only follow with assurance of a profitable fuel product. (This, in turn, rests on innovative introductions of attractive hydrogen-fueled vehicles by the auto firms.)

Operating Off-Grid
Localized, small systems are also attractive. There are more than a handful of customers in remote locations with interest in purchasing a small “personal” solar or wind system that includes the capability to produce and make available a tank filling every few days. True energy independence, “Home Power,” follows only if one can operate off the grid. To do so requires equipment with special design and characteristics, going well beyond simply adding solar panels or a wind turbine. The compressor and electronics, for instance, may have to be specially controlled to operate over a range of input power. Most notably, a full commitment of business and government will be required to develop such systems for mass production so as to make them available with low cost and reliable operation characteristics.

Public opinion regarding a hydrogen-fueled economy has quickly shifted from ignorance through skepticism to acceptance of hydrogen as the fuel of the future. This shift could become a forceful demand as the public begins to perceive the sun as the source and their well being to be dependant on a rapid shift from imported towards homegrown “green” fuels. Each of us with experience related to PV, wind, and hydrogen are blessed with a “once in an eon” responsibility to participate in the education and planning of this transition.   ©2003. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of the National Hydrogen Association.
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