Portugal switches on first solar-to-hydrogen plant

The Portuguese Fusion Fuel and Ballard Power have announced the successful commissioning of the H2Évora plant on Portugal The grid-connected pilot project will produce an estimated 15 tons of green hydrogen per year.

Portugal switches on first solar-to-hydrogen plant

The Portuguese Fusion Fuel and Ballard Power have announced the successful commissioning of the H2Évora plant on Portugal The grid-connected pilot project will…

www.pv-magazine.com

Portugal’s Fusion Fuel has connected its green hydrogen plant to the grid in Évora, Portugal. The project is the first successfully commissioned solar-to-green hydrogen facility in Portugal.

The H2Évora pilot project features 15 of the company’s HEVO-solar hydrogen generators. They will produce an estimated 15 tons of green hydrogen per year. The generators combine miniaturized proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers fixed to the back of high-efficiency concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) panels.

The facility includes a 200 kW FCwave fuel cell module supplied by Canada-based Ballard Power. It is used to convert green hydrogen into electricity, enabling Fusion Fuel to sell power into the grid during periods of peak demand. H2Évora includes hydrogen purification, compression, and storage systems. It has been operating continuously since late 2021, and is now connected to the Portuguese electric grid.

Quote from Fm1

The Portuguese Fusion Fuel and Ballard Power have announced the successful commissioning of the H2Évora plant on Portugal The grid-connected pilot project will produce an estimated 15 tons of green hydrogen per year.

It is a small scale pilot plant. Always a good way to start.

Currently wind delivers 35% of all German current!

Hydrogen-producing rooftop solar panels nearing commercialization

KU Leuven researchers have developed rooftop panels that capture both solar power and water from the air. Like traditional PV modules, hydrogen panels are also connected, but via gas tubes instead of electric cables. The researchers are now preparing to bring the tech to the mass market via a spinoff company.

Hydrogen-producing rooftop solar panels nearing commercialization

KU Leuven researchers have developed rooftop panels that capture both solar power and water from the air. Like traditional PV modules, hydrogen panels are also…

www.pv-magazine.com

KU Leuven researchers in Belgium have created a hydrogen panel that directly converts water vapor from the air into hydrogen gas, with the help of sunlight. They claim it produces 250 liters of hydrogen per day, at an efficiency of 15%. They are developing it under the Solhyd project, which is now in a transition phase from research to spinoff.

In a nutshell, hydrogen panels are modules that use solar energy to split water molecules and produce hydrogen gas. This means only the most arid places on Earth are too dry for hydrogen panels to work efficiently. They are akin to classical solar modules, but instead of an electric cable, they are connected via gas tubes.

Specifically, electricity is produced by the top layer solar panel, with a system of tubes underneath, where the hydrogen is produced from water molecules extracted directly from the air using a membrane

Artificial Leaf” To Produce Green Hydrogen

An “artificial leaf” mimics the natural process of photosynthesis to produce green hydrogen from sunlight and water.

"Artificial Leaf" To Produce Green Hydrogen

An "artificial leaf mimics the natural process of photosynthesis to produce green hydrogen from sunlight and water.

cleantechnica.com

Many Roads To Green Hydrogen

To be clear, fossil energy resources still dominate the global hydrogen market. Not for long. Alternative sources are surging into the market, with plain old water is in the lead.

So far, most of the sustainable H2 activity has focused on electrolysis, in which renewable energy generates an electrical current that jolts hydrogen gas from water.

That’s a giant step up the sustainability ladder. However, electrolysis does require the conversion of renewable resources to electricity. With plenty of other users are crowding the field, hydrogen stakeholders will have to elbow their way into the competition for wind and solar power.

One way to make more elbow room is to improve the efficiency of electrolysis systems. However, the pressure to deploy wind and solar resources for other uses will continue to persist as the climate crisis grows worse.

Another way to relieve the pressure is to develop alternative pathways for sustainable hydrogen, such as gas from organic matter or industrial wastes.

A human-made photosynthesis system would add a powerful new tool to the alternative green hydrogen toolkit, partly because it could provide a workaround to the site selection issues that can obstruct solar development.

Across the pond, for example, a research team at the University of Cambridge is preparing to market a low cost, durable artificial leaf. Their device can be floated on canals and other bodies of water, as a land-conserving alternative to solar arrays.

What Is The Artificial Leaf?

The idea of an artificial leaf first hit the CleanTechnica radar in 2011, when we noted Harvard professor Daniel Nocera’s work on a low cost, solar powered, sustainable H2 system that could be down-scaled for home use in off-grid communities.

Water electrolysis has grabbed practically all of the media spotlight since then, but artificial leaf research has continued apace.

The basic idea behind the artificial leaf sounds simple enough. You simply fabricate a specialized solar cell called a photoelectrochemical cell, dip it in a water-based solution, and expose it to light, thereby recreating the chemical reactions in natural photosynthesis.

Quote from Fm1

The basic idea behind the artificial leaf sounds simple enough.

Yes it sounds simple. But nature is just 1-2% efficient. Photovoltaic soon will be 25..30%. It just depends on the goals. Perovskite solar cells are now well above 25% and can be printed by an inkjet on any surface. Also here we have just one question. How long will it last....

Quote from Wyttenbach

Yes it sounds simple. But nature is just 1-2% efficient. Photovoltaic soon will be 25..30%. It just depends on the goals. Perovskite solar cells are now well above 25% and can be printed by an inkjet on any surface. Also here we have just one question. How long will it last....

Solar efficiency overall sucks, 25-30% efficiency only applies on cloudless perfect conditions. I have a large rooftop solar setup, in Florida and because of cloudy skies my panals might be about 18% efficient. This leaf tech just adds a new step to clean inexpensive hydrogen production. Storage and transportation are the big obstacles but turning hydrogen to ammonia will help with transportation problems

Quote from Fm1

Specifically, electricity is produced by the top layer solar panel, with a system of tubes underneath, where the hydrogen is produced from water molecules extracted directly from the air using a membrane

And then what? What do you do with the hydrogen? The article says:

“The hydrogen panels themselves do not store hydrogen and work at very low pressure. This has several safety and cost benefits. The hydrogen is collected centrally from the hydrogen panel plant, and then compressed, if needed,” Rongé said. “Hydrogen can be stored indefinitely in compressed form. Of course, certain applications do not require compression, or will use other means of storage.”

Hydrogen is not easy to store. It does not store "indefinitely;" it tends to leak. It has to be compressed to store in reasonable amounts. If it were use right away in a fuel cell, the overall efficiency would be less than a PV cell, I think.

What other means of storage? Hydrides?

I don't get it. Maybe I am missing something here.

Quote from JedRothwell

What other means of storage?

I guess if the gas is only being stored for a relatively short time, for on-demand heating and power generation, then it would be possible to use a low-pressure double membrane gas holder, as is common with biogas systems.

Granted, the hydrogen will gradually seep through the membrane - but for short term storage that is probably tolerable.

This place in Germany sells storage balloons - some suitable for hydrogen:

Gas storage balloons for industry, research Ballonbau Wörner

Quote from JedRothwell

And then what? What do you do with the hydrogen? The article says:

“The hydrogen panels themselves do not store hydrogen and work at very low pressure. This has several safety and cost benefits. The hydrogen is collected centrally from the hydrogen panel plant, and then compressed, if needed,” Rongé said. “Hydrogen can be stored indefinitely in compressed form. Of course, certain applications do not require compression, or will use other means of storage.”

Hydrogen is not easy to store. It does not store "indefinitely;" it tends to leak. It has to be compressed to store in reasonable amounts. If it were use right away in a fuel cell, the overall efficiency would be less than a PV cell, I think.

What other means of storage? Hydrides?

I don't get it. Maybe I am missing something here.

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Convert it to ammonia for storage and transportation, then back to hydrogen for commercial use

Ammonia—a renewable fuel made from sun, air, and water—could power the globe without carbon

With copious solar and wind power, Australia aims to displace Haber-Bosch, a dirty, 100-year-old recipe for making ammonia

Science | AAAS

SYDNEY, BRISBANE, AND MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA—The ancient, arid landscapes of Australia are fertile ground for new growth, says Douglas MacFarlane, a chemist at Monash University in suburban Melbourne: vast forests of windmills and solar panels. More sunlight per square meter strikes the country than just about any other, and powerful winds buffet its south and west coasts. All told, Australia boasts a renewable energy potential of 25,000 gigawatts, one of the highest in the world and about four times the planet's installed electricity production capacity. Yet with a small population and few ways to store or export the energy, its renewable bounty is largely untapped.

That's where MacFarlane comes in. For the past 4 years, he has been working on a fuel cell that can convert renewable electricity into a carbon-free fuel: ammonia. Fuel cells typically use the energy stored in chemical bonds to make electricity; MacFarlane's operates in reverse. In his third-floor laboratory, he shows off one of the devices, about the size of a hockey puck and clad in stainless steel. Two plastic tubes on its backside feed it nitrogen gas and water, and a power cord supplies electricity. Through a third tube on its front, it silently exhales gaseous ammonia, all without the heat, pressure, and carbon emissions normally needed to make the chemical. "This is breathing nitrogen in and breathing ammonia out," MacFarlane says, beaming like a proud father.

Quote from Fm1

Hydrogen-producing rooftop solar panels nearing commercialization

What I find peculiar about this is that they are carrying out the air humidity extraction under a panel that will tend to get hot. That's not exactly ideal, since you have to chill the air to the dew point to condense and extract the water. You also need to dump the heat from the necessary heat-pump - adding to your heat rejection problem.

Having a nicely accessible dehumidifier and electrolyser, at ground level (and in the shade), powered by the electricity from remote panels, would seem more sensible from a maintainability perspective.

Here is Georgia Power crying crocodile tears for its poor rate payers who must subsidize rooftop solar. Nothing about rate payers having to subsidize the most expensive electricity in history from Georgia Power's nuke.

GDPR Support

Georgia Power still opposed to expanding popular rooftop solar program

Solar advocates push back, point to company’s soaring profits

Quote from JedRothwell

Here is Georgia Power crying crocodile tears for its poor rate payers who must subsidize rooftop solar. Nothing about rate payers having to subsidize the most expensive electricity in history from Georgia Power's nuke.

https://www.ajc.com/news/georg…5Y7UG6HRHFTHFY6ACMSTW7OQ/

Georgia Power still opposed to expanding popular rooftop solar program

Solar advocates push back, point to company’s soaring profits

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Back in 2017, In Spain, the King sided with the utility companies on this matter, they stopped short at calling rooftop solar installers “smoochers”, but the text of the royal edict certainly said that if you know how to read between the lines. Anyway, they applied a 30% tax on rooftop solar and it almost killed the booming industry.

COP27: A Parade Of Climate Hypocrisy (forbes.com)

Every year, global climate summits feature a parade of hypocrisy, as the world’s elite arrive on private jets to lecture humanity on cutting carbon emissions. The current UN climate summit in Egypt offers more breathtaking hypocrisy than usual, because the world’s rich are zealously lecturing poor countries about the dangers of fossil fuels—after devouring massive amounts of new gas, coal, and oil.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy prices even further, wealthy countries have been scouring the world for new sources of energy. The United Kingdom vehemently denounced fossil fuels at the Glasgow climate summit just last year, but now plans to keep coal-fired plants available this winter instead of shutting almost all of them as previously planned. Thermal coal imports by the European Union from Australia, South Africa and Indonesia increased more than 11-fold. Meanwhile, a new trans-Saharan gas pipeline will allow Europe to tap directly into gas from Niger, Algeria and Nigeria; Germany is reopening shuttered coal power plants; and Italy is planning to import 40% more gas from northern Africa. And the United States is going cap-in-hand to Saudi Arabia to grovel for more oil production.

At the climate summit in Egypt, the leaders from these countries will somehow declare with straight faces that poor countries must avoid fossil fuel exploitation, for fear of worsening climate change. These very same rich countries will encourage the world’s poorest to focus instead on green energy alternatives like off-grid solar and wind energy. They’re already making the case. In a speech widely interpreted as being about Africa, the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said it would be “delusional” for countries to invest more in gas and oil exploration.

The hypocrisy is simply breathtaking. Every single rich country today became wealthy thanks to exploitation of fossil fuels. The world’s major development organizations—at the behest of wealthy countries—refuse to fund fossil fuel exploitation that poor countries could use to lift themselves out of poverty. What’s more, the elite prescription for the world’s poor—green energy—is incapable of transforming lives.

That’s because sun and wind power are useless when it is cloudy, night-time, or there is no wind. Off-grid solar power can provide a nice solar light, but typically can’t even power a family’s fridge or oven, let alone provide the power that communities need to run everything from farms to factories, the ultimate engines of growth.

A study in Tanzania found almost 90 percent of households given off-grid electricity just want to be hooked up to the national grid to receive fossil fuel access. The first rigorous test published on the impact of solar panels on the lives of poor people found they got a little bit more electricity—the ability to power a lamp during the day—but there was no measurable impact on their lives: they did not increase savings or spending, did not work more or start more businesses, and their children did not study more.

Moreover, solar panels and wind turbines are useless at tackling one of the main energy problems of the world’s poor. Nearly 2.5 billion people continue to suffer from indoor air pollution, burning dirty fuels like wood and dung to cook and keep warm. Solar panels don’t solve that problem because they are too weak to power clean stoves and heaters.

In contrast, grid electrification—which nearly everywhere means mostly fossil fuels—has significant positive impacts on household income, expenditure, and education. A study in Bangladesh showed that electrified households experienced a 21 percent average jump in income and a 1.5 percent reduction in poverty each and every year.

The biggest swindle of all is that rich world leaders have somehow managed to portray themselves as green evangelists, while more than three-quarters of their enormous primary energy production comes from fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. Less than 12 percent of their energy comes from renewables, with most from wood and hydro. Just 2.4% is solar and wind.

Compare this to Africa, which is the most renewable continent in the world, with half of its energy produced by renewables. But these renewables are almost entirely wood, straws, and dung, and they are really a testament to how little energy the continent has access to. Despite all the hype, the continent gets just 0.3% of its energy from solar and wind.

To solve global warming, rich countries must invest much more in research and development on better green technologies, from fusion, fission and second-generation biofuels to solar and wind with massive batteries. The crucial insight is to innovate their real cost down below fossil fuels. That way everyone will eventually switch. But telling the world’s poor to live with unreliable, expensive, weak power is an insult.

There is already pushback from the world’s developing countries, who see the hypocrisy for what it is: Egypt’s finance minister recently said that poor countries must not be “punished”, and warned that climate policy should not add to their suffering. That warning needs to be listened to. Europe is scouring the world for more fossil fuels because the continent needs them for its growth and prosperity. That same opportunity should not be withheld from the world’s poorest.

Vertical-axis Wind Turbines could Revolutionize Offshore Wind Power

Quote from Shane D.

The United Kingdom vehemently denounced fossil fuels at the Glasgow climate summit just last year, but now plans to keep coal-fired plants available this winter instead of shutting almost all of them as previously planned.

This article is highly biased. It is full of disinformation. I will only address this one example. Since 1970, the UK has reduced coal consumption from 158 million tons down to 9 million tons. It plans to close the remaining coal plants soon. However, the Ukraine war has caused energy shortages, so coal plants are temporarily being left open. Coal consumption may increase slightly, but nowhere near to the levels they were in 2000. This is a temporary expedient.

UK: Coal consumption 2021 | Statista

The coal industry in Britain spans back to Roman times, but over the past four decades the industry has been steadily declining.

www.statista.com

Quote from JedRothwell

This article is highly biased. It is full of disinformation. I will only address this one example

I think you miss the whole point of his article. He is not pro fossil fuel, and sums his opinion up this way:

"To solve global warming, rich countries must invest much more in research and development on better green technologies, from fusion, fission and second-generation biofuels to solar and wind with massive batteries. The crucial insight is to innovate their real cost down below fossil fuels. That way everyone will eventually switch. But telling the world’s poor to live with unreliable, expensive, weak power is an insult."

What he is advocating against is this hypocrisy of the developed countries preaching to the less developed to (paraphrased) "do as I say, not as I do". Yes, rich countries are trying to go green, but after decades of pushing it hard, they really have little to show for their efforts. The reality is setting in that green will get us there some day, but not anytime soon. The poor countries see this. They are not idiots, so until such time we get our act together, it is counter-productive preaching the green gospel to them.

He also highlights the hypocrisy, or better said IMO, the arrogance, of the proselytizers of the green movement....the jet setters. The beautiful people: "Every year, global climate summits feature a parade of hypocrisy, as the world’s elite arrive on private jets to lecture humanity on cutting carbon emissions.". The very same people I might add, who are infamous for blocking green projects when it affects them.

Quote from JedRothwell

Since 1970, the UK has reduced coal consumption from 158 million tons down to 9 million tons.

Long trainloads of imported wood, sourced from forests in the USA and Canada, pass my house every day - heading for Drax power station. The government class this as "renewable energy" - but the suppliers are chopping down (essentially mining) hardwood forests that won't regrow for many decades. This is insane.

#AxeDrax Campaign – biofuelwatch

Quote

Since 2012, Drax Plc has morphed from a single-asset company, operating the UK’s biggest coal power station to now operating the world’s biggest wood-burning plant, as well as being the second biggest producer of wood pellets globally, supplying companies across Europe and East Asia. Drax power station, in Yorkshire, emits more CO₂ than any other facility in the UK.

In return for burning huge quantities of wood from forests that are logged in the Southeastern USA, Canada the Baltic States and elsewhere, Drax received almost £1 billion in subsidies during 2021, paid from a surcharge on UK electricity bills. Thanks to those generous subsidies, Drax made more than £100 million in profits and is increasing its dividends, i.e. pay-outs to shareholders. This comes at a time when the UK is facing the worst cost of living crisis in at least sixty years, including record fuel bills.