Distribution of hydrogen from the point of production to the end-use is the most overlooked aspect in the entire value chain (our opinion… but it is also a fact) – but a close second (maybe 1B?) is the need for onsite storage at production and end-use facilities.

Large Scale Fuel Storage, not Just a Hydrogen Issue

Ignoring the electricity side for this discussion (e.g., solar/wind/batteries), most fuel-based energy systems need some form of storage for its transport and distribution. It is not a singular need but a multi-faceted one that captures many logistics aspects when using fuels:

1. The mismatch in time between production and the end consumer: conventional fuel markets have much more stable production rates but still need to be optimized for end-customer variations. These problems are amplified in the hydrogen market where you may have intermittent production AND end-customer variations in fuel consumption. Mismatches in time can span from the timescale of minutes all the way to entire seasons – or in more general terms, the time you spend having fun with your free time (minutes) all the way to the time you spend somewhere like the DMV (seasons).
2. Geographical location: There is a need to engineer solutions for the mismatch in geographic location of energy sources and the end consumer. E.g., hydrogen produced in Oklahoma needs to find a way to the major consumers along the coasts.
3. Diversification of energy sources: could read as the variability of supply/demand of new fuels. As the diversification of energy sources continues, there is a need to provide energy conversion pathways between various sources and consumers, enabling a true energy network instead of a set of individual paths. As always, these needs are driven by a financial opportunity to turn wasted energy and stranded assets into a commodity.

Hydrogen can play a critical role in meeting these needs, and large-scale hydrogen energy storage solutions provide an opportunity to further unlock the market. Let’s dive into some of these needs in a bit more detail.

Flexible Design for Energy Storage

A major role for hydrogen in the near future is in the conversion of renewable electrical energy to fuels through electrolysis. Although electrolysis is valuable as a distributed resource, centralized production provides the basis for supply when it can be coupled to high energy density sources such as solar fields and wind farms. Hydrogen can be made when the sun is shining and when the wind is blowing. Economies of scale can be realized, along with a high level of resiliency in the supply of hydrogen. But centralized production is only a piece of the puzzle because when the wind is blowing, that doesn’t necessarily correspond with the time that we are all running our dishwashers, keeping our houses cool, or keeping our hot water heaters ready for the next shower. Large scale energy storage bridges that gap and depending on how poorly the energy sources and consumers align, that gap could span large amounts of time, or relatively short amounts of time but large capacity. Therefore, not only are large scale energy storage systems needed, but they need to be flexible in design to fit the application.

Geography Approximately Equal to Time

The problem of geography matters in energy storage as much as time when it comes to the coupling of production and consumption. This is not a new problem in energy, our oil and gas reserves do not perfectly align with our urban centers. The same is true for diversified energy resources like hydropower, geothermal, wind, and solar. As urban centers continue to develop and their energy needs increase, the challenge of transporting energy to them continues. Major energy assets such as GW scale offshore wind can’t be used immediately out in the ocean, it needs to be transported to the urban consumption centers. Large scale energy storage again provides a piece to this engineering puzzle, buffering the mismatch between supply, demand, transport, and energy conversion.

Transport Options

Large scale energy storage helps to diversify energy transport, where massive infrastructure expansion limitations exist on the electrical side. Hydrogen and its large-scale energy storage unlocks a complimentary energy transport path to get energy into the urban centers. This helps both with meeting demand, but also provides additional diversification of our energy systems which enhances energy resiliency.

Speaking of resiliency – everyone’s favorite word that most folks interpret in completely different ways, “resiliency”. One definition often highlighted by regulators is the need for energy systems that can withstand natural disasters or out of character weather events. This is not a requirement that is only coming down on hydrogen systems, universally companies are evaluating the need for local/flexible/distributed energy storage to accommodate new regulatory requirements coming down around resiliency.

It's complex, but that is why we have engineers working on it – as we diversify further with renewable energy sources the system complexity increases. In this case, hydrogen can act as an energy bridge between energy types and provide energy storage opportunities where they may have otherwise been difficult. An example is in the seasonal energy variations in wind and solar assets. Harnessing their true potential requires large scale energy storage solutions and the direct storage of electrical energy at that scale is very difficult.

Molecular energy storage in the form of hydrogen offers many advantages as the cost of the energy conversion and storage systems become competitive. Of course, technologies that are flexible, scale, and are cost efficient will win out in this arena – you know, technologies like ours…

Congrats, you just read the world’s longest ad – ha! As always – stick around, things could get interesting.

Credit: The article image was created with the use of A.I., specifically OpenAI’s DALL-E platform. Main author is Cory Kreutzer with proof reading and editing provided by the broader IQ4H2 team.