Solar, wind power could provide a boost for hydrogen

Renewable power sources, coupled with improvements in how we currently split water into hydrogen and oxygen, could make it possible to develop large-scale energy storage systems based on hydrogen.

Siemens says it’s further developed an electrolysis system — a way to split water molecules into their components, hydrogen and oxygen — based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. Using renewables to power electrolysis that way could produce hydrogen for energy storage with “almost no effect on the climate, it asserts.

“We’re offering a technology that exploits the potential of hydrogen for industrial processes and storing energy,” said Roland Kaeppner, head of the Siemens Hydrogen Electrolyzer Business Unit responsible for developing the PEM technology.

Hydrogen can not only be used as a means of storage energy, but can be transformed into primary energy in many ways, such as feeding it back into gas turbines, adding it into the natural gas supply, or in material-sensitive recycling. According to Kaeppner, Siemens plans to develop PEM electrolysis technology into the triple-digit megawatt range for industrial applications.

Hydrogen is already playing a significant role in many industrial production processes, and serves as fuel for fuel cell-powered vehicles. Because of its high energy density, it’s also regarded as a potential key technology for the storage of large quantities of energy. This means hydrogen could prove to be a key player in integrating renewable energy into today’s mostly fossil-fuel-dependent electricity grid.