Four years after the South Australian government's bold and ambitious — but very much hypothetical — hydrogen power plant was first announced, there have been inauspicious developments concerning its future.
  • zurohkiEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    Mmm. Producing green hydrogen for use in industry is important. Producing green hydrogen to generate electricity is incredibly inefficient, so it’s hard to make that make sense.

    If you’re producing hydrogen for steelmaking, you might absorb excess solar power if it’s free and then burn that extra hydrogen in the evening for a few extra dollars since you already have the equipment and grid connection.

    If you don’t have the hydrogen demand from steelmaking though? Just put a battery there. Hydrogen energy storage is shockingly inefficient. It only makes sense if you also need the equipment for something else.