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Beyond Basics
There is a sound foundation of knowledge about hydrogen and fuel cells
Hydrogen for the storage of energy and fuel cells for its conversion may have moved into the focus of public attention not so long ago, but they are by no means new inventions. Both rest on a firm foundation of knowledge which has been provided by decades of research and development. The challenge of today is to turn the results into products and practical effects.
Long before anybody thought about things as an oil or energy crisis the investigation of the energetic use of pure hydrogen started in the 50s of the last century. It revolutionized rocket propulsion because it has by far the highest energy content per unit mass. But also the use as road vehicle fuel was already investigated more than 30 years ago.
Foundations of the fuel cell go back to the first half of the 19th century. Only after World War II there was more attention devoted to it in Europe and America. The first spectacular use of the fuel cell was in the 60s and 70s in the space programs. In Germany as well there was experimental work on fuel cells starting around 1960. Slowly word went round that it is possible to convert chemical to electrical energy directly without intermediate steps, friction, and noise with efficiencies of 50 %.
Changes in the stationary energy system are known to happen slowly. This is even more the reason to devote more efforts to the steps ahead.
Wind power is expected to grow significantly by the installation of offshore parks, but it causes problems when fed into the electricity grid because of its fluctuating nature and as it can not be used as base load. Bridging the gap with fossil power stations or switching off wind parks is certainly the worst solution, both ecologically and economically. Hydrogen can be used as medium for intermediate storage of electrical power. Pumped hydro storage power plants can provide the same, but require topographical conditions which are not met everywhere. Storage of pressurized air depends on caverns which used as storage for hydrogen would offer an energy density almost 100 times as high. Storage of hydrogen in large cavities combined with the idea of the hybrid power station now being built by ENERTRAG in Brandenburg would be a great step towards steady feed in of wind power into the grid in a sustainable way. Claiming suitable places should start now because there are other technologies as well which may compete for them.
While all this knowledge was available the connection to the climate problem and the depletion of resources happened only recently. Japan took over the lead and started a generous hydrogen program in the early 90s. The USA followed in 2003, and a similar process was set up in the European Union back when Romano Prodi was President of the Commission.
Since two years, Germany has its own National Innovation Program for hydrogen and fuel cells which sets a standard internationally. There is also a program for the development of electrical storage batteries, in particular for mobility. We saw a rather silly debate about “fuel cells vs. batteries”. DWV has pointed out frequently that both technologies need and complement each other.
An important step on the road to hydrogen fuel in Germany was the declaration of seven companies from the energy field plus NOW GmbH (administrating the innovation program) who together with the Federal Minister for Transport declared their will to create a hydrogen infrastructure during the five to ten years to come.
Vehicles for all purposes for everyday use will be available in a few years; they will have pure electric propulsion (battery or fuel cell) where reasonable and will be hybrids where necessary. The idea to cut corners by simply substituting a fuel cell with larger batteries has failed not only due the technical limitations of batteries and the charging process but also due to the limited supply of resources for such devices.
During its annual press conference this year DWV published a catalogue of demands to outline the next steps on the way to the use of hydrogen as fuel and as ideal partner of sustainable energy. The reason behind this is the urgent need to set in motion and to accelerate the necessary developments for the good of the climate and to provide affordable mobility.
Published by the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (DWV), Berlin
Editor: Dr. Ulrich Schmidtchen, Berlin
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