Hydrogen Storage But Not Necessarily Storing Hydrogen

The idea of pairing intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar with hydrogen production and storage seems like a perfect match – creating the green hydrogen through electrolysis that is a preferred form of H2 in low carbon energy markets around the world.

But does storing energy in the form of pure hydrogen always make sense?

The challenge of compression & liquefaction

As a gas at ambient temperatures, hydrogen must be concentrated to create viable energy reserves and here lies the challenge.

Compression

One solution is compression, which can be stored at moderate pressure levels but then further compressed for transportation deployments.

This creates some combination of a technical challenge in converting the pressure at the pump and, more notably, a cost / energy expenditure problem in maintaining the storage hydrogen at high pressure.