First Danish Hydrogen Energy Plant Is Operational

[jpak]

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=48873

Denmark's first full-scale hydrogen-energy plant and testing facility, the Lolland Hydrogen Community opened May 2007. It is also the EU's first full-scale Hydrogen Community Demonstration facility for residential Fuel Cell Combined Heat and Power (CHP).

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The island is producing 50% more energy from renewable energy sources that it consumes and the hydrogen project is seeking to locally store excess wind power in the form of hydrogen for use in residential and industrial facilities.

Hydrogen is produced by using excess wind power to split water into oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis. The oxygen is used in the municipal water treatment plant nearby to speed up the biological process. The hydrogen is stored in low-pressure storage tanks at 6 bars and fuels two PEM Fuel Cell Micro Combined Heat and Power (CHP) stations of 2 kilowatts (kW) and 6.5 kW, respectively.

Within the next couple of years the project will install residential micro CHP units in 35 homes in the village of Vestenskov making it the first hydrogen-powered community in Europe.

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[On the Road]

1. Is There a Reason

that they're doing wind-to-hydrogen-to-electricity rather than simply wind-to-electricity? Because it's a pilot program? Or because they can use the 0₂ for something else?

[jpak]

2. They are doing both

When wind power generation exceeds local electrical demand, the excess power is used to produce and store hydrogen.

The hydrogen is then used in fuel cells to produce heat and electricity - this buffers mismatches between local wind power supply and residential/industrial electrical demand.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. You can't easily store wind-generated energy

I'm not sold on this system, either, but hopefully I will be wrong.

Still ...

It's residential energy. Depending on the country, household use accounts for 2-15% of the total energy demand. That's why these projects fail to impress me. It is no trick to heat our houses and run our appliances using ambient solar and wind power, but generating the power required to keep a continental industrial economy operating is another thing, and fuel for our cars is also a big draw. As long as we keep thinking in terms of light bulbs and refrigerators, we will keep overlooking the proverbial oncoming tidal wave.

--p!

[jpak]

8. You can easily store hydrogen from wind and solar - it's done every day

You can do it with low or high pressure tanks or hydrides.

You can store it on-site at wind/PV farms or use electrolysis to produce and store at end use sites.

DIYs have done this for years...

[garybeck]

5. making hydrogen is better than

charging batteries or burning off excess electricity in resistors.

[NNadir]

3. Full scale?

They can't even report in units of energy?

Finally if it's full scale, why is it called a demonstration facility?

Two kilowatts is about enough to fuel eleven or twelve computers linked to websites talking about wonderful Danish hydrogen plans if the wind is blowing.

It sounds like the ridiculous Utsira bullshit in Norway that you were talking up, what is it now, three or four years ago. The number of houses fueled by hydrogen is still ten, and there is still no plan to scale up Norwegian hydrogen homes to eleven houses.

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Interestingly...

...Although Lolland is over 1,240 km³, the highest point is only 25m above sea level. You'd think they'd have a bit more urgency than 35 homes "within the next couple of years"

Or maybe that's all that will left of Vestenskov?

[razzleberry]

7. would not power one house in the US than needs A/C

8.5KW times 40% electrical efficiency,
3.4 kw-e

[jpak]

9. No, that's 8.5 kW of electrical output (AC) - 204 kWh per day, 6120 kWh per month.

a "bit" more than consumed by "average" American home BTW...

[razzleberry]

10. where do you read, 8.5 kw electric?

since the article discusses
combined heat and power,
I have to assume that 8.5 is the sum
of electric and heated water,
which is typical for fuel-cell-advertising.

[jpak]

11. How do I know? Because that's how fuel cells are rated - by their electrical output

And if you add in the heat produced, they are 80+ percent (not 40%) efficient in converting hydrogen to heat and power...