Green hydrogen enthusiast moans about the unreliability of renewables 2

[GregLocock]

Andy Vesey, Fortescue’s North American chief,“If I am building a gigawatt of electrolysers in Texas I may only need a gigawatt of energy at any time, but I have to buy seven times that to ensure that I have all the probabilities working, so I know I can match in that hour, which means the bulk of what I buy I don’t need,”

He reckons that will treble the price of green hydrogen.

The alternative is to run the plant continuously , ie on nuclear and coal and gas, when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. Biden says no.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[BrianPetersen]

Hydrogen is a terrible choice for utility load levelling; the round-trip efficiency is too poor. So maybe, use a more appropriate tech for the utility load levelling part of it and skip the hydrogen.

 

[EdStainless]

I think that they are using the hydrogen directly in their process.
I have worked on the math of electrolyzers.
What you need to do is have hydrogen storage capacity.
And buy power when it is cheap, solar in mid-day through early afternoon and wind at night.
And if you need the output of a 1GW unit then you had better install at least 1.5 or 2 so that you build buffers when the power is available.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[dik]

Part of the problem is that current energy is produced by a relatively cheap and reliable system. This may have to change in the future.

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So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

 

[hokie66]

Isn't 'cheap and reliable' to be applauded?

 

[SnTMan]

Part of the problem is that current energy is produced by a relatively cheap and reliable system. This may have to change in the future.

Oh yeah. they are working on that, all right. Especially the cheap and reliable parts.

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand