Saving the Wind Power for Later

Orkney project shows potential of hydrogen as a fuel source

Orkney, a sparsely-populated archipelago 10 miles off the northern tip of mainland Scotland, is not an obvious place to go looking for the future. Yet the windswept islands have become one of Britain's foremost centres for innovation in renewable energy - including the use of hydrogen as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.

From article, (A sparsely-populated archipelago 10 miles off the northern tip of mainland Scotland, is not an obvious place to go looking for the future. Yet the windswept islands have become one of Britain’s foremost centres for innovation in renewable energy — including the use of hydrogen as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels. Orkney’s focus on hydrogen stems from its need for a way of storing energy from the islands’ prolific wind and tidal resources, which frequently generate more electricity than the local power grid can accept. A range of public and community investors, from the EU to Orkney Council, have financed an electrolysis machine to turn surplus energy into hydrogen. The process works by splitting water into its component parts — hydrogen and oxygen — with an electric current. The resulting hydrogen is stored as compressed gas to be used at a later date in fuel cells which reverse the electrolysis process to produce electricity. The power is used as a substitute for fossil fuels in ships docked in Kirkwall, capital of Orkney, reducing local pollution and carbon emissions. “If we do not use [surplus wind and tidal power] it just blows or washes past so we may as well do something with it,” says Neil Kermode, managing director of the European Marine Energy Centre, based on Orkney. “We’re trying to take energy out of the sea and use it for things like transport and heat.”

Hydrogen also has wider potential uses as a source of heating in homes and industries. A pilot scheme is planned to substitute hydrogen for methane in the local gas network of Leeds, in northern England, with an aim of cutting carbon emissions from heating by almost three-quarters. Hydrogen will be extracted from existing natural gas supplies and the carbon removed and stored underground. Planners say only minor modifications of existing gas infrastructure and appliances will be required. The scheme aims to be operational in the late-2020s with a view to nationwide rollout if successful.)