Renewable hydrogen fueling
EVermont demonstrates how hydrogen can be generated from renewable resources in a cold, hilly, rural environment.
In late October, a fueling station in Burlington, Vt., began producing transportation-grade hydrogen from water and wind energy. It is the nation’s first hydrogen station to use this renewable scheme, according to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratories.
The station was built by EVermont, a nonprofit research and development organization, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. The goal is to demonstrate how hydrogen can be reliably generated using decentralized, renewable resources with no carbon emissions in a cold, hilly, rural environment, says Harold Garabedian, the project’s technical liaison and the assistant director of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources air quality department.
The station produces hydrogen by splitting water apart with an advanced electrolysis system from Proton Energy Systems. The electrolysis system is powered by proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, the same kind of fuel cells that can be used to propel cars. The system for storing and dispensing the hydrogen fuel was produced by Air Products, and the gas is compressed to 6000 pounds per square inch (psi) for storage. Although this is off-the-shelf equipment, Garabedian says that coaxing it to work together proved more challenging than expected. To get the system operational, his team had to fix a lot of leaks, because hydrogen is so “slippery—it takes extra care to ensure that you have really good, tight joints.”
The station produces 12 kilograms of hydrogen fuel per day (the equivalent of 12 gallons of gasoline), but it can be scaled up easily, Garabedian says. Although it is not directly connected to the nearby 65-kilowatt wind turbine operated by the Burlington Electric Department, the hydrogen station receives renewable-energy credits from the utility, which is a partner in the project. The eVermont researchers are analyzing how the turbine’s power output correlates with the station’s needs, and they have plans to construct additional hydrogen stations that use solar photovoltaics as an energy source, Garabedian says.
