Power outages result in substantial losses to companies, expensive acquisitions made my households and businesses to sustain operations and ultimately results in harmful emissions to the environment due to the usage of non-sustainable means to generate electricity in times of need.
One solution to power outages is the notion of power storage, instead of real time usage. The notion of energy storage can either be at utility scale, which includes all energy storages at the side of the utility provider, or energy storage can include behind the meter storage, which is all measures taken by households and industry to store energy or ultimately remote power systems which are supplied to remote areas which are not typically connected to the grid. For this discussion, we will place our focus on utility scale and remote power systems. Within the topic of storage energy, there has been a few trends that caught the attention of energy enthusiasts, we will discuss the notion of hydrogen energy storage.
Hydrogen storage energy is a form of chemical energy storage, where the stored energy can be released at any time by means of using gas as fuel in a combustion engine or in fuel cells. The benefits of Hydrogen storage energy include the high quantity of energy that can be stored in hydrogen, which is substantially higher than the storage capacity of batteries. Secondly, the hydrogen energy storage is nontoxic with almost no emissions through the process of electrolysis. Thus, an environmentally friendly alternative.
Further, we transition to the notion of Remote Power Systems. This refers to networks not connected to the utility grid. These remote areas predominantly make use of renewable means to generate power, however, due to climate conditions and other causes which make real-time power generation difficult in remote areas, there is a need for movable storage energy to these regions. Despite the dangers involved in the movement and displacement of hydrogen storage in general, advancements and innovation made this process much safer, as observed in the hydrogen motor vehicle industry. The storage units in remote areas will reduce and even eliminate power outages in areas where power outages have become part of the everyday life in those regions.
Cost of implementation and adaption
Considering all the benefits from the Hydrogen Energy Storage discussed above, we need to consider the high cost at which Hydrogen Energy storage comes. Despite the easy process through electrolysis which manufactures the hydrogen, several costs are accompanied by the hydrogen storage. At present hydrogen storage energy is more expensive than some alternative energy storage methods. However, due to the relatively new nature of hydrogen storage energy we do expect the price of implementation and adoption of hydrogen storage energy to decrease rapidly in the following years.
Israeli companies are the leaders in innovation concerning energy storage, with expertise in hydrogen storage as well as mobile energy storage units. The following companies are known for their advanced groundbreaking work in the field of energy storage.
Energystoredge
Energystoredge provides solutions by charging aqueous NRG-liquid with Hydrogen and releasing it on demand. NRG-liquid referred to above is a safe, non-flammable, nontoxic rechargeable liquid. This is highly beneficially due to the substantial reduction in cost of hydrogen transportation, infrastructure, and handling.
Further, Energystoredge is well-known in the field of hydrogen powered vehicles, specializing in the replacement of high-pressure related components in hydrogen powered vehicles, in addition to hydrogen fueling stations.
For more information, visit their website at – https://www.nrgstoredge.com/
Gencell
Gencell have developed a revolutionary process that allows them to create hydrogen-on-demand from anhydrous ammonia (NH3) at 10 times the efficiency of other solutions and without any outside electrical power.
This breakthrough enables GenCell to provide the first viable green primary power solution for off-grid and poor-grid telecom as well as rural electrification—at a cost less than diesel solutions.
For more information visit their website – https://www.gencellenergy.com/
NRG Spring
NRG spring specializes in the field of storage energy in its entirety. NRG spring is a firm believer that renewable energy cannot be used completely efficient without storage, therefore, NRG spring supplies storage solutions for wind and solar generated power, in addition to providing energy storage solutions for remote off-grid regions.
NRG spring does not make use of hydrogen storage energy, which makes their solutions less expensive, yet they are able to store from 10KW to 10Mw.
For more information visit their website- https://www.nrgspring.com/
For more information, please contact us at hongkong@israeltrade.gov.il