Hydrogen has been used for a variety of purposes all across the world and now ITM Power plc (LON:ITM) has found a clean and green way of producing it.
ITM Power has developed a rapid response, high pressure electrolyser product platform that is scalable from 0.5 to 100 MW applications, converting surplus renewable energy via the splitting of water into its components hydrogen and oxygen. The green hydrogen produced via this process could be used for a number of industrial sectors, including transport, chemicals, steel, plastic, power, heat and fertiliser. Last week, the company announced it would be supplying the electrolyser to Shell in order to generate hydrogen for their refinery in Germany. In the same week, it also announced that it will be supplying the first hydrogen bus refuelling station in France.
The use of electrolysis for energy storage, known as Power-to-Gas, can significantly increase the flexibility of the electrical network that will be needed to integrate a large level of renewable power sources into the energy system. Hydrogen is potentially one of the best approaches to massive storage of electricity, from periods of several days to long-term seasonal storage, thus solving the storage problems currently being experienced with the introduction of large levels of renewable energy.
“Renewable energy supplies are regularly turned off when they exceed demand; it’s called ‘curtailment’” said Dr. Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power. “But ITM Power’s systems can harness and fully utilise this surplus renewable energy to create hydrogen. This can be done anywhere there is an electricity and water supply, eliminating the need for deliveries by road and using electricity at times when the price is lowest.”
