A large hydrogen plant could be a step toward a clean energy future.
Travis Hoium (TMFFlushDraw) Sep 13, 2017 at 7:06AM The dream for those of us following renewable energy is to someday be able to produce 100% of the world’s energy from renewable sources. Wind and solar power could easily provide enough energy to replace every power plant and barrel of oil in the world, if only there were a cheap, easy way to store it. Batteries are expensive and chemically intensive, so hydrogen was always seen as a top-option for long-term energy storage.Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A) (NYSE:RDS-B) and ITM Power (NASDAQOTH: ITMPF) may have taken a small step toward building a hydrogen-fueled renewable future earlier this month by announcing a 10-megawatt electrolyzer complex in Germany that will supply hydrogen to its refining plant. The hydrogen could also be used to help balance the grid or be sold to customers for their own uses.
A big deal for hydrogen
Hydrogen has incredible potential to disrupt the energy industry, but it has been rendered all but obsolete in most of the auto industry, pushed aside in favor of rapidly improving batteries. There’s no point in building a hydrogen vehicleor the necessary infrastructure if batteries can charge quickly and are cost-effective.