When solar electricity generation expands beyond peak day-time usage, energy storage comes into play. Energy storage can either provide electrical power when the sun is not shining, or serve other energy functions such as transportation. Today, solar electricity is usually stored in batteries which have limited application, but emerging technologies will allow it to be stored in the form of hydrogen. Worldwide attention has been placed on hydrogen as a major energy carrier in solving our global energy, climate-change and environmental problems. To do so, hydrogen needs to be produced from renewable energy sources.
Solar electricity can be used to produce hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. Hydrogen can then be used to either produce utility electricity when the sun is not shining, or serve as a fuel in hydrogen vehicles. Electrolysers are already producing hydrogen from electricity and water at greater than 75% efficiency. Hydrogen’s properties allow it to be efficiently used in either engine-generator sets or in fuel cell power systems.
As we evolve from a petroleum-fueled society, hydrogen is expected to be the primary fuel for transportation, and fuel cells are expected to be the power plant for vehicles. Fuel cell power systems in automobiles are already 2 to 3 times more efficient than internal combustion engines. Because hydrogen produced with solar power is carbon-free, a renewable hydrogen energy economy can not contribute to greenhouse emissions. Once implemented, an energy economy based on renewable sources and hydrogen fuel is sustainable without ever having to adapt to the continuing disruptions in supply and shifting between fossil sources as they diminish.
Pyron systems are suitable for large scale installations, and their superiority in efficient land use and cost effective power production all combine to make Pyron Solar power systems the best choice for producing solar hydrogen for the new and growing sustainable energy economy.
