Much is made of Tesla batteries, and massive solar powered battery systems – but what about storing wind power? To date it has been a thorny problem, but at last the canny Scots have come up with a solution for those extra-windy days that can produce just too much energy. Hydrogen is providing the answer. By Jeremy Torr
There’s plenty of wind and wave power in Orkney - but how to store that energy? Courtesy of Destination Orkney Group
Orkney Islands, Scotland. December 2019. The Orkney Islands, off the north-east of Scotland, have over 50MW of installed wind, wave and tidal capacity generating over 46 GWhr of electricity every year. That’s a lot of power, and way more than the local community of some 500 people can use. So a large proportion has previously gone to waste. But scientists have come up with a solution – use the excess power to make hydrogen.
James Stockan. Courtesy Orkney Council.
“Orkney is at the heart of our new BIG HIT project, which aims to (produce) hydrogen locally using renewable energy,” says Orkney Islands Council Leader James Stockan. The hydrogen can then be used sustainably in ways which benefit islands and other remote communities in the region. “Our community is the ideal test bed for this,” adds Stockan. The EU thinks so too, and has committed some €10.9 million to funding the project since 2016.
The driver for the islands’ new initiative is to address the key problem of wind power – its unpredictability. Estimates say that some 1 trillion watt-hours of potential power were lost in the UK alone in recent years, and that may have cost the UK government some $200 million a year in compensation - wind farm owners have to feather (turn off) their turbines when there is nowhere for the power to go to. Indeed, previously turbines on Shapinsay and Eday were often ‘curtailed’ by up to 30% of their annual output because of limited electricity consumption through the grid on Orkney.
The wind turbines don’t stop when the lights go off. Courtesy Solo Energy.
This new project, ambitiously titled the BIG HIT will use locally produced excess power to produce renewable hydrogen using a water cracker, or electrolyser, that will take up the slack of up to 1MW and turn water into hydrogen and oxygen, creating a pure, clean supply of transportable energy that can be compressed and shipped to local users.
“It was great to see our Council’s new zero-emission vans - the first vehicles to have a ‘fill-up’ of Orkney-produced hydrogen providing clear evidence that BIG HIT is up and running.” says Stockan.
The island has been a net exporter of (partly wasted) electricity since 2013, and project is the “hard earned result of a truly unique partnership of technical, public and local community partners coming together,” said Mark Hull, Head of Innovation for Community Energy Scotland. “We are looking forward to seeing it not only lead the way internationally, but also create real benefit to the local community,” he added.
As well as being almost free to produce – the hydrogen production plant only needs water in addition to the wind power to produce the gas - hydrogen does not produce any harmful by-products if it is used to power vehicles, as it offers up its power through an electric fuel cell. The only emission from the council’s adapted Renault vans is pure water, and the hydrogen fuel cells give these them a wider range than ordinary electric vehicles. But the best bit about hydrogen produced by excess wind power is that it can be used not just in cars but in a myriad of ways – including heating buildings, powering ships or trains, and for industrial processes too.
UK Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said the government was “… very supportive of the BIG HIT initiative because it will help alleviate grid constraints in the Orkney Islands, as well as enabling excess renewable energy (to be) generated locally.” He added that the Big Hit bonus was that what cannot be transmitted to the power grid can now be stored through the production of hydrogen. “As a versatile and low carbon energy solution, hydrogen therefore has the great potential to play an important role in transport, heating, and industry,” he added.
Boats, vans and trucks are all using hydrogen power. Courtesy ITM.
“This innovative project will add to our growing understanding of the potential role of hydrogen in Scotland’s future energy system. The Scottish Government has already supported a number of world-leading hydrogen … projects, such as the introduction of zero emission hydrogen buses and hydrogen refuelling stations in Aberdeen.”
Prof Roger Putnam, ex-chairman of ITM Power - one of the key players in the new project, said the new system would be an important blue-print for the design of hydrogen energy systems that utilised intermittent renewable energy, like that from wind farms.
“The project perfectly illustrates the use of electrolysis for energy storage and its subsequent use as a clean fuel and for renewable heat. We are delighted to be part of such an important project."
The project team says the BIG HIT project is working proof of a fully integrated model of hydrogen production, storage, transportation and utilisation for low carbon heat, power and transport.
In coming months, the Orkneys will see fleets of vans and cars, ships and ferries, and industrial heating and power plants all making use of the almost free power that the hydrogen provides once it has been shipped to the filling points in high pressure containers. It is literally a wind of change in terms of energy production, distribution and usage.
One of the key drivers of the new project, Fernando Palacin, MD of New Hydrogen Technologies Foundation, says that its role cannot be overstated. “Hydrogen technologies provide solutions to some of the most important challenges that humankind has to face in terms of sustainability, environmental concerns, and a better use of local renewable resources,” he asserts.
“The BIG HIT project is a pioneer project and the first step worldwide towards establishing a true locally integrated hydrogen economy.”