Hydrogen and FCEVs discussion thread

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RegGuheert said:
GRA said:
Of course, FCEVs can also supplied by H2 coupled with PV or wind to produce it when they are in excess, as is being done, e.g. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/06/20180622-hyseas.html

http://greenhydrogen.dk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Hydrogen-in-Rennerod-press-release-1.pdf
Of course it's a very dumb idea to throw away 2/3 of that "excess". A much better idea is to keep nearly all of that excess and charge BEVs or other batteries instead.
As long as you don't have any more excess than you can use immediately for charging. But if you need to store it for a week, month or more, it's a different matter, and will remain so as long as mass storage by battery remains expensive.

[Edit] Reading down to the next post, I see WetEV made the same point. That's what I get for not reading all the posts before replying.
 
WetEV said:
This is the last 10% problem in renewable energy. It is going to be more expensive than the first 90%, might even be far more expensive and inefficient. As long as it works, and the total cost isn't outrageous...
It will never pan out as a back-up; it is just too expensive. A mix of a more inter-connected grid, pumped hydro, batteries and solar thermal have it beat by a country mile. And for that last 1% ? Use NG for all I care.
 
WetEV said:
RegGuheert said:
A much better idea is to keep nearly all of that excess and charge BEVs or other batteries instead.
True until you get to beyond a week or more of storage. MIGHT not be true for the last bit, needed for seasonal shifting and such. The cost of energy from batteries rises the slower they are cycled, storing hydrogen (or perhaps some compound such as methanol produced from hydrogen) is less costly.
Agreed.

I will say that since we are endeavoring to transition transportation away from fossil fuels toward electric drive, we should be putting "excess" generation into electric vehicles first. The reason is simple: fossil fuels are easier to store than hydrogen and electric vehicles are much more efficient for storing electricity than hydrogen, so storing energy as hydrogen should be delayed until it actually makes sense.
WetEV said:
If there is a point to fuel cells in vehicles, it is probably mostly in aviation. More likely in fixed fuel cells to provide season shifting.

This is the last 10% problem in renewable energy. It is going to be more expensive than the first 90%, might even be far more expensive and inefficient. As long as it works, and the total cost isn't outrageous...
Exactly. Let's not shoehorn hydrogen into applications where it is impeding the progress of this transition rather than helping.
 
SageBrush said:
WetEV said:
This is the last 10% problem in renewable energy. It is going to be more expensive than the first 90%, might even be far more expensive and inefficient. As long as it works, and the total cost isn't outrageous...
It will never pan out as a back-up; it is just too expensive.
I'm not sure about that. The material costs of batteries quickly outstrip the costs of fuel-cell storage at rather quickly as storage time increases.
SageBrush said:
A mix of a more inter-connected grid, pumped hydro, batteries and solar thermal have it beat by a country mile. And for that last 1% ? Use NG for all I care.
I'm all for pumped hydro, but it is not a viable solution in places like Florida. That's why touting successes like in Norway and Portugal only get us so far.

Likewise there are limits to the interconnected grid approach. It can be extremely expensive and at the end of the day, there are times when there is nearly zero renewable energy being generated over the entire grid. This happens in Europe fairly regularly.

And, frankly, I think hydrogen will have a larger role in our future than solar thermal. Simply put, I do not think solar thermal plants can compete with solid-state technologies such as PV. We'll see.

At the end of the day, I DO like the approach of putting hydrogen into natural gas pipelines, as Germany is beginning to do. One reason I like that approach is that it can leverage much existing infrastructure (both pipelines and gas turbines) to assist in the transition. At the same time, I think we need to implement the higher-efficiency portions of the solution first, including things you have mentioned like pumped hydro, grid improvements, but also things like daytime BEV charging (using BEV net metering) and ARES.

In short, my position on hydrogen is this: keep doing the research but stop diverting subsidies from BEVs to things like H2 FCEVs. That is just slowing down progress toward a more-sustainable solution.
 
GRA said:
This could be a real game-changer, via GCC:
Army researchers develop novel nanogalvanic alloys for on-demand hydrogen generation; plans to license
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/06/20180624-arl.html
This does look interesting, especially for military applications. My question about this type of claim is this: Where does the energy come from to separate the H2 from the O2 and how much of that energy is wasted in the process? After all, H2 is useful as a fuel ONLY after it has been raised to a higher energy state than when it is combined with O2 in water.
 
RegGuheert said:
I'm all for pumped hydro, but it is not a viable solution in places like Florida.
Florida is not on my radar. It is just a flooded swamp waiting for the ocean to reclaim it.
 
GRA said:
RegGuheert said:
...Of course it's a very dumb idea to throw away 2/3 of that "excess". A much better idea is to keep nearly all of that excess and charge BEVs or other batteries instead.
As long as you don't have any more excess than you can use immediately for charging...
RegGuheert said:
... The material costs of batteries quickly outstrip the costs of fuel-cell storage at rather quickly as storage time increases...
What you both seem to be overlooking is that as BEVs replace ICEVs, there will be an ever-increasing supply of inexpensive used cells that have second-life applications in stationary storage installations.

And as new battery costs per kWh continue to fall, used battery prices will probably soon reach very low prices per kWh.

Every significant BEV manufacturer world-wide (except TSLA, for obvious reasons) has already begun repurposing programs for their used packs.

Meaning large-scale hydrogen conversion of electricity for energy storage, is nearly certain to wind up as just another economically non-competitive pipe dream from the Hydrogen lobby.
 
edatoakrun said:
What you both seem to be overlooking is that as BEVs replace ICEVs, there will be an ever-increasing supply of inexpensive used cells that have second-life applications in stationary storage installations.

And as new battery costs per kWh continue to fall, used battery prices will probably soon reach very low prices per kWh.
Here’s hoping that eventually happens in meaningful quantities!
edatoakrun said:
Meaning large-scale hydrogen conversion of electricity for energy storage, is nearly certain to wind up as just another economically non-competitive pipe dream from the Hydrogen lobby.
What many (not you) fail to realize is that ramping up renewable electricity production to the levels needed to transition to BEV-based transportation will be no minor feat. But the amount of electricity required if we plan to hydrolyze a significant amount of water in order to access the H2 will be significantly higher, meaning that simply will not happen.

This problem is most acute in places like Germany where the renewable resources are extremely limited, especially in wintertime. Texas is much better suited to make a full transition to renewables than is Germany, regardless of the level of resolve by politicians to spend OPM.
 
RegGuheert said:
This problem is most acute in places like Germany where the renewable resources are extremely limited, especially in wintertime. Texas is much better suited to make a full transition to renewables than is Germany, regardless of the level of resolve by politicians to spend OPM.
That is not a fair characterization for Germany beyond solar, and it does not take into account load/generation mismatch.

However, I certainly agree that hydrogen appears brain-dead on many levels.
 
RegGuheert said:
edatoakrun said:
What you both seem to be overlooking is that as BEVs replace ICEVs, there will be an ever-increasing supply of inexpensive used cells that have second-life applications in stationary storage installations.

And as new battery costs per kWh continue to fall, used battery prices will probably soon reach very low prices per kWh.
Here’s hoping that eventually happens in meaningful quantities!
edatoakrun said:
Meaning large-scale hydrogen conversion of electricity for energy storage, is nearly certain to wind up as just another economically non-competitive pipe dream from the Hydrogen lobby.
What many (not you) fail to realize is that ramping up renewable electricity production to the levels needed to transition to BEV-based transportation will be no minor feat. But the amount of electricity required if we plan to hydrolyze a significant amount of water in order to access the H2 will be significantly higher, meaning that simply will not happen.

This problem is most acute in places like Germany where the renewable resources are extremely limited, especially in wintertime. Texas is much better suited to make a full transition to renewables than is Germany, regardless of the level of resolve by politicians to spend OPM.
When you say extremely limited, what are your standards? Germany is already generating over 1/3rd (36.1% in 2017) of their electricity from renewables, with more to come: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Germany PV resources are obviously less than Texas, but the Baltic has good to excellent wind, and they're already shifting from on to offshore farms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Germany

They've also got a lot of biomass, some hydro, and are increasing geothermal thanks to govt. incentives.
 
edatoakrun said:
GRA said:
RegGuheert said:
...Of course it's a very dumb idea to throw away 2/3 of that "excess". A much better idea is to keep nearly all of that excess and charge BEVs or other batteries instead.
As long as you don't have any more excess than you can use immediately for charging...
RegGuheert said:
... The material costs of batteries quickly outstrip the costs of fuel-cell storage at rather quickly as storage time increases...
What you both seem to be overlooking is that as BEVs replace ICEVs, there will be an ever-increasing supply of inexpensive used cells that have second-life applications in stationary storage installations.

And as new battery costs per kWh continue to fall, used battery prices will probably soon reach very low prices per kWh.

Every significant BEV manufacturer world-wide (except TSLA, for obvious reasons) has already begun repurposing programs for their used packs.

Meaning large-scale hydrogen conversion of electricity for energy storage, is nearly certain to wind up as just another economically non-competitive pipe dream from the Hydrogen lobby.
Not overlooking it at all, e.g.
Hyundai Motor Group and Wärtsilä partner on second-life electric vehicle batteries
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/06/20180627-hmg.html

I'm a huge fan of re-purposing, but until someone gets some life-cycle cost data, the long-term viability of this approach is as speculative as ultimate battery prices or cost-competitive with fossil-fuels H2, and the likely size of the storage needs in a full shift to variable intermittent renewables dwarfs the numbers mentioned in that article.
 
Via GCC:
Nel ASA awarded multi-billion NOK contract for 448 electrolyzers (1 GW) by Nikola Motor
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/06/20180629-nel.html

. . .
  • Nel’s electrolyzers are efficient and reliable, making them a natural backbone for our station infrastructure. We’ll begin fleet testing the Nikola hydrogen electric semi-trucks in 2019. The first two stations will be installed in Arizona and California depending on permit timelines. The next 28 stations will be installed on each route outside of Anheuser-Busch’s Breweries or their distribution centers. Each station will produce 700 bar and will be compatible with class 8 trucks and consumer cars. This is an incredibly exciting time and we have now contractually set in motion the largest network of hydrogen in the world.

    —Trevor Milton, Chief Executive Officer of Nikola

The contract includes an initial order for a pre-engineering package of around US$1.5 million, where Nel will develop a station design, including electrolyzers, specifically made for fast fueling of Nikola trucks.

Nel will continue to work, in collaboration with Nikola, to finalize the detailed station design and other technology elements to be deployed for the commercial stations. Nikola has already placed an initial order amounting to more than US$9 million for two demo-stations for which delivery will commence towards the end of 2018. . . .

Also GCC:
Air Liquide and startup STNE partner for the development of hydrogen mobility in China
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/06/20180629-alchina.html

Air Liquide and the Chinese startup STNE (Shanghai Sinotran New Energy Automobile Operation CO., LTD.), have signed a partnership agreement to accelerate the rollout of hydrogen-powered electric truck fleets in China.

Air Liquide is acquiring a minority stake of around €10 million (US$12 million) in STNE, a hydrogen logistics platform designed for urban deliveries of goods, which currently operates a hydrogen station in Shanghai and a fleet of 500 hydrogen-powered trucks. . . .

STNE aims to run a fleet of up to 7,500 trucks and to operate a network of around 25 hydrogen stations by 2020.
I think that's the largest single FCEV fleet in the world, at the moment.
 
Via GCC:
DOE to award ~$13.5M to 16 R&D projects for solid-oxide fuel cell technologies
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180702-doesofc.html

. . . SOFC technologies enable efficient, cost-effective electricity generation from abundant domestic coal and natural gas resources, with minimal use of water and near-zero atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide and pollutants. The selected projects support the Department’s SOFC program by helping to mature the technology for commercial use to efficiently generate low-cost electricity. . . .

Applications for the latter were sought in two areas of interest (AOI): AOI 1 – Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) Core Technology Research and AOI 2 – Core Technology Research and Development (R&D) in Support of Near-Term SOFC Power Systems Prototype Tests.

  • AOI 1 supports the following goals and objectives:

    Improve cell performance (power density)

    Reduce system performance degradation

    Improve system reliability and durability

    Cost reduction via improvements in materials and manufacturing

AOI 2 supports projects that address and resolve reliability issues that are related to the long-term operation (a minimum of 5,000 hours) of second-generation SOFC power systems prototype tests in an operational environment. R&D areas of interest included, but were not limited to:


  • Cell manufacturing and quality control

    Stack manufacturing and quality control

    Purpose-specific components

    Thermal and flow management between stacks and between modules

    Instrumentation and controls. . . .
A list of the awards is included. Can't say I'm a fan of the mention of coal, but NG with a shift to an increasing % of H2 in NG pipelines is a good interim step.
 
Via GCC:
ARENA announces $1.5M to fund green hydrogen innovation hub in Western Australia; ATCO hydrogen microgrid
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180705-atco.html

On behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $1.5 million toward the funding of Australia’s first green hydrogen innovation hub at Jandakot in Western Australia. Total project value is $3.3 million.

n Jandakot, gas company ATCO will trial the production, storage and use of renewable hydrogen to energize a commercial-scale microgrid, testing the use of hydrogen in different settings and applications including in household appliances.

The development project will evaluate the potential for renewable hydrogen to be generated, stored and used at a larger scale. ATCO aims to assess the practicalities of replacing natural gas with hydrogen at a city-wide scale across a municipality.

Green hydrogen will be produced from on-site solar using electrolysis, a range of gas appliances and blending hydrogen into the natural gas pipeline.

The project will also build upon ATCO’s distributed energy hybrid energy system trial called GasSola which includes the installation of rooftop solar with battery storage and standby natural gas generation for nine residential sites in Western Australia’s south west. . . .

Also GCC:
Ballard acquiring fuel cell assets from Daimler/Ford AFCC
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180704-ballard.html

. . . As part of a planned wind-down of AFCC’s operations in Vancouver, which are co-located with Ballard at its headquarters, Daimler and Ford have in-housed and relocated their fuel cell stack development activities to Germany and the US, respectively. As a result, Daimler and Ford have agreed to sell AFCC assets to Ballard. . . .

The array of testing, production and lab assets acquired—with a footprint of approximately 11,000 square feet of floor space—includes:

  • Testing Equipment – Test stands, Core Automotive Test (CAT) equipment as well as other stations and equipment used in the testing of materials, fuel cell stacks and power modules;

    Prototype Production Equipment – Key prototype production equipment used in the manufacture of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), a core technology component used in fuel cell stacks; and

    Lab and Quality Inspection Equipment – A broad range of measurement, testing and inspection equipment underpinning the analysis and understanding of critical fuel cell and MEA materials.
 
Via GCC:
thyssenkrupp supports Australian company H2U in green hydrogen and renewable ammonia value chain development
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180710-thyssenkrupp.html

thyssenkrupp was recently awarded a contract to perform a feasibility study for a new green hydrogen project by the Australian hydrogen infrastructure company Hydrogen Utility (H2U). A 30MW water electrolysis plant as well as a facility for sustainable ammonia production are planned to be constructed near Port Lincoln in South Australia. It will be one of the first commercial plants to produce CO2-free “green” ammonia from intermittent renewable resources. . . .

  • . . . The new facility will provide balancing services to the national transmission grid, fast frequency response support to new solar plants under development, supply green ammonia and other chemicals to the local farming and aquaculture sectors. It will host the demonstration of novel supply chain technologies for the export of green hydrogen to markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

    —Dr. Attilio Pigneri, CEO of H2U

The planned facility will integrate different hydrogen technologies, including a multimegawatt electrolyzer plant and an ammonia production facility with a capacity of 50 tons per day . . . A 10MW hydrogen-fired gas turbine and 5MW hydrogen fuel cell will supply power to the grid.
 
All via GCC:
Equinor awards Jacobs feasibility study for conversion of natural gas to hydrogen in power production
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180712-equinor.html

Equinor Energy AS awarded . . . a feasibility study contract to evaluate the possibilities for building a hydrogen production plant, including CO2 capture and export facilities, in Eemshaven, the Netherlands.

The hydrogen will be supplied as fuel to an existing natural gas-fired power plant that will be converted into a hydrogen-fueled power plant designed to lower the plant’s carbon emissions at a large scale.

The award of the feasibility study follows a Memorandum of Understanding . . . to evaluate the possibilities of converting Vattenfall’s gas power plant Magnum in Eemshaven into a hydrogen-powered plant.

Building on Jacobs’ expertise in hydrogen, reformer technology and CO2 capture, the study performed by Jacobs will focus on the objective of selecting the most effective reformer technology for hydrogen production together with a suitable CO2 capture technology. Jacobs will also deliver the conceptual design of the plant as a basis for economic evaluation and further project definition.

In order to avoid CO2 emissions from the hydrogen production process, up to three million tons per year of CO2 will be captured and then liquefied for ease of transportation to Norway, where it will be injected and stored in an off-shore reservoir. The first of three Magnum plant units should be converted to run on natural gas by early 2024.


Air Liquide and China startup STNE sign an agreement for the development of hydrogen mobility
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180713-al.html

. . . This agreement fits in with the Chinese government’s 13th five-year plan, which aims notably to support the development and sale of hydrogen-powered electric vehicles serving clean mobility.

Through this partnership, Air Liquide acquires a minority stake of around €10 million (US$12 million) in the Chinese startup STNE, a hydrogen logistics platform designed for urban deliveries of goods, which currently operates a hydrogen station in Shanghai and a fleet of 500 hydrogen-powered trucks.

As part of this agreement, Air Liquide will provide STNE with its expertise in the entire hydrogen supply chain, from production and storage to distribution, to accelerate the startup’s development. STNE aims to run a fleet of up to 7,500 trucks and to operate a network of around 25 hydrogen stations by 2020.


NZ government granting NZD 950K to support development of hydrogen fuel infrastructure
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180712-nz.html

. . . Peters said a grant of NZD 950,000 (US$642,000) will be made to Hiringa Energy and its partners which is seeking to develop zero emission hydrogen transport fuel.

The funding will be used to scope the engineering and design of two hydrogen generation facilities, up to four mobile compressed hydrogen storage and distribution containers, and up to three hydrogen refueling stations.

Hiringa Energy is developing a network of hydrogen generation, distribution and refueling infrastructure for the commercial, industrial, public sector and retail customers in New Zealand.


KIT spin-off producing synthetic natural gas from green hydrogen and CO2 from sewage sludge
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180714-kit.html

Chemical reactor company INERATEC, a spinoff of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and the Spanish company GAS NATURAL FENOSA have built a plant in Spain that produces synthetic natural gas from CO2 and renewable hydrogen. The process is based on the production of hydrogen by electrolysis (renewable power-to-gas) and its reaction with CO2 from biogenic sources—e.g. sewage sludge.

At the sewage treatment plant of the city of Sabadell near Barcelona, large amounts of the basic materials required are available, INERATEC’s Managing Director Tim Böltken said. . . .

With a power-to-gas process, excessive or decentrally produced power from renewable sources, such as solar or wind power, is converted into methane. The renewable gas can be stored in the existing gas infrastructure and transported to areas all over Spain. Gas storage capacity in Spain amounts to about 30 terawatt hours, which means that the power produced by wind power plants there can be stored for half a year.

However, so far, such decentralized production has not been economically efficient, as the chemical process usually requires extremely expensive, large chemical facilities. The INERATEC founders succeeded in developing a compact modular facility, such that the capacity can be increased as required.

For the time being, the pilot plant at Sabadell is to produce 100 m3 gas per day. It is additionally equipped with a catalyst developed by the Catalonian Institute for Energy Research (IREC) for the conversion of CO2 from biogenic sources. . . .
Converting into CH4 and then using it in the existing NG storage and distribution network limits the new infrastructure required, although the extra transition must add an additional efficiency loss over and above those already required. But if you've got variable renewables in excess, might as well use it rather than lose it.
 
Via GCC:
DOE: 650 MW of fuel cell power shipped in 2017; largest increase in transportation sector
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/201807170-doefc.html

. . . The largest increase in MWs occurred in the transportation sector, and that growth can be attributed to the introduction and expansion of fuel cell light-duty vehicles from Japan and Korea to new regions around the world.

Other transportation applications such as buses and material handling also contributed to the increase in MW shipped.
There's a bar chart showing annual totals for 2014 through 2017. 2017's total is a bit over triple that of 2014 (200MW), but the jump attributable to transportation fuel cells is more like 400 MW vs. 20 MW, best as I can eyeball it.
 
A couple of my occasional posts showing lab achievements on H2 and/or fuel cells, both via GCC. As always with such results, commercialization is not guaranteed, nor will it appear soon even if it is commercialized:
UNL-led team greatly increases hydrogen production by T maritima; breaking the theoretical limit
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180727-unl.html

Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), with colleagues from North Carolina State University and the University of Connecticut, have engineered the hyperthermophilic anaerobe Thermotoga maritima to produce 46% more hydrogen per cell than the wild type.

The team’s highest reported yield—5.7 units of hydrogen for every unit of glucose fed to the bacterium—easily surpassed the theoretical limit of 4 units proposed in 1977 by researcher Rudolf Thauer. A paper on their work is published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The feat represents a breakthrough in the global effort to scale up the sustainable production of clean-burning hydrogen for vehicles and heavy industry, said Raghuveer Singh, who who conducted the research as part of his dissertation.

The T. maritima bacterium ferments sugar into simpler carbon-based molecules that fuel two processes: growing new cells and producing metabolites—one of which is hydrogen. But under normal conditions, most of that carbon gets funneled into the biological machinery that cranks out new cells, leaving little left over for hydrogen production. . . .

The researchers decided to inactivate temporarily a gene that has no effect on cell growth but slows hydrogen production in T. maritima. When they did, a second gene—this one involved in transporting sugar—spontaneously mutated to prevent a lethal buildup of sugar-based metabolites. That mutation also dramatically redirected the bacterium’s energy expenditure from cell growth to hydrogen production, creating a new strain that the researchers named Tma 200. . . .

Singh, Blum and colleague Derrick White have since worked with NUtech Ventures to apply for patent protection of the genetic technique, which Singh described as a “promising strategy” for increasing bacterial production of any potential metabolite.

The researchers received support from the US Department of Energy.

RUB chemists develop new catalyst for bioplastics, with hydrogen as co-product
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180726-rub.html

Chemists at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have developed a new, low-cost catalyst for plastic production. It turns a biorefinery product into a starting material for the synthesis of plastics, which could represent a sustainable alternative to widespread PET. At the same time, hydrogen can also be formed during the reaction. . . .

In their study, the Bochum-based researchers present a nickel boride catalyst which—as it does not contain any precious metals—is readily available and affordable compared to many other catalysts. It can turn the biorefinery product HMF (5-hydroxymethyl-furfural) into FDCA (2,5-furandicarboxylic acid).

  • FDCA is interesting for the industry because it can be processed into polyesters. PEF, an alternative to PET, can thus be produced – and all of this is based on renewable raw materials, i.e. plants.

    —Dr. Stefan Barwe. . . .

In the tests conducted by the Bochum-based team, the catalyst turned 98.5% of the starting material HMF into FDCA in half an hour; no waste products are created.

  • ]We have also designed the catalyst in such a way that it is effective under the same conditions under which hydrogen production is also successful.

    —Dr. Barwe. . . .
 
Via GCC:
thyssenkrupp offering large-scale water electrolysis
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2018/07/20180728-tk.html

. . .By splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, this technology delivers “green” hydrogen, a clean, CO2-free energy carrier. The only inputs needed are water and renewable electricity from wind, hydro power or photovoltaics. . . .

thyssenkrupp says that its solution makes large-scale hydrogen production from electricity economically attractive. The advanced water electrolysis features a well-proven cell design paired with an especially large active cell area of 2.7 m2. By further optimizing the proven “Zero-Gap” electrolysis technology (leaving virtually no gap between membrane and electrodes), very high efficiencies of more than 82% are achieved.

To make deployment of large hydrogen projects as easy as possible, the thyssenkrupp technology is available in pre-fabricated, skid-mounted standard modules. They easily add up to the desired project size, potentially into the hundreds of megawatt range. . . .
There are specs for 5 and 20MW electrolyzer modules.
 
Zythryn said:
I didn’t realize there was a single supplier for much of the H2 stations in southern CA.

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2018/07/24/hydrogen-fuel-shortage-in-southern-calfiornia/

I am curious to hear what the supplier side issue is.
It seems the network is not only small at this point, but has no redundancy for a single supplier over a large area.
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1117927_hydrogen-supply-shortage-leaves-fuel-cell-cars-gasping-in-california is another story on the So Cal H2 shortage that was published a few days later.
 
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