Sneak peek of the hydrogen economy

What could a hydrogen-based energy economy look like? You’ll find a glimpse of its potential in a remote town in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Bella Coola, located about 400 kilometres north of Vancouver, has turned to Hydrogen Assisted Renewable Power (HARP) to store locally generated energy from hydropower and reduce its dependence on diesel generators. The project is aimed at ensuring electricity supplies for the off-grid community while also cutting diesel-based greenhouse gas emissions.

A joint effort of GE, BC Hydro and Powertech, the HARP project illustrates where the real promise of hydrogen lies: not as a fuel for vehicles — electric cars are by far and away the future — but as a medium for stationary energy storage. As the proponents of a similar project in Washington state — the Stuart Island Energy Initiative — put it, “where there is a local surplus of renewable energy, a hydrogen system is practical and appropriate, here and now.” In the case of Bella Coola, that surplus comes from a local run-of-river power plant. On Stuart Island, the energy comes from solar power.

With further improvements in fuel-cell technology — such as the solid-state storage being developed by California’s Bloom Energy and France’s McPhy Energy — hydrogen really could help deliver a greener and more secure energy future. As many of the most promising technologies are still in the borderline commercial-research phase, we’re not quite there yet, but the prospects are certainly encouraging.

Still, the key remains first to develop that “local surplus of renewable energy.” Hydrogen’s future isn’t as a stand-alone energy superhero, but as a partner in a marriage with a clean-energy source, whether that’s solar, wind, tidal or something else. The sooner the hydrogen companies and the clean-energy companies realise that and team up for their mutual benefit — and ours — the quicker we can achieve our green energy goals.