Can Hydrogen Play a Role in Grid Stabilization?

Power grids are the infrastructure producing and delivering energy around the world. Most people don’t think of them until there’s a disruption, but they facilitate almost every aspect of modern life.

Currently, 80% of our energy demands are met by fossil fuels. The remaining 20% is powered by more sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. As power grids transition to renewable energy, day-to-day life can become more sustainable.

However, significant barriers currently block a full transition to clean energy. Namely, the leading alternative energies—wind and solar power—are dependent on environmental variables that can’t be controlled.

Here’s where hydrogen comes in. Hydrogen-based fuel’s unique features allow it to effectively store energy for long periods. These properties make hydrogen a crucial medium for grid stabilization.

The Challenges of Modern Grid Stabilization

Grid stability is “a balance between electricity supply and demand to ensure reliable and continuous power delivery to consumers.”

The amount of energy people need varies throughout each day. At perfect efficiency, power grids would store any surplus energy production for later use. Nothing would be wasted, and everyone’s needs would be met. However, current systems are far from achieving this ideal performance.

America’s power grids are aging, susceptible to failure, and under increasingly high demand for energy output—a trifecta of stressors for stabilization efforts.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) points out that much of the electric power grid was built in the 1960s and 70s and that 70% of power lines are old and approaching expiration.

The DOE aptly summarizes the three main consequences of these factors:

–Power outages from system failures

–Emergencies caused by faulty infrastructure

–Dated equipment susceptible to cyber attacks

This outdated infrastructure is vulnerable to instability caused by weather, vegetation growth, and malpractice—even before integrating alternative energy. These shortcomings make grid stabilization challenging, and adding additional energy sources increases the task’s complexity.

Renewable alternatives like solar and wind power have made strides in supplementing grids with clean energy. However, the limitations of intermittent availability make them unable to fulfill energy demands on their own.

Moreover, electricity generated from wind or solar processes is difficult to store because electric batteries self-discharge over time—especially in cold conditions—depleting reserves.

Hydrogen power can fill this vital gap in renewable energy reliability and seasonal storage.

Hydrogen’s Role in Power Grid Stabilization

In the push for more stable and sustainable power grids, a variety of alternative energies are needed to replace fossil fuels. Hydrogen leverages several benefits over both conventional and alternative fuels, but it will not be able to power a city on its own for the foreseeable future.

Rather, hydrogen must work in tandem with other energy sources for a 100% renewable power grid to work. Expert estimates place hydrogen’s role in such a system at 30% of the total electric power supply.

Energy Storage Solutions

Though hydrogen is typically used to create electricity through fuel cells, its latent energy doesn’t need to be stored in a battery.

Hydrogen can be contained in bulk gas or liquid form with minimal energy loss. More advanced storage methods include using metal hydrides, chemical carriers, or water-based gel.

These methods all provide scalable storage solutions for excess energy production. Engineers have already established methods of harnessing solar and wind power to generate green hydrogen through several zero-emission methods.

This positions hydrogen to serve as a power grid’s “rechargeable battery,” storing excess energy in the form of hydrogen for later use.

Backup Power During Peak Demand

Hydrogen grid stabilization would most likely take the form of electrolysis—a zero-emission technology that renders hydrogen from water with an electric current.

Excess energy production can be routed to an electrolyzer that makes and stores hydrogen. In turn, this hydrogen can build up until the grid experiences an outage or demand spike, at which point it’s converted back into electricity.

This type of system is the essence of grid stabilization, allowing extra energy from any number of sources to be stored for times of need.

It should be noted that this storage system is imperfect; energy is lost whenever transferred into a different form. However, hydrogen is a viable way to store power that would otherwise go to waste.

Grid Reliability and Resilience

Hydrogen plays a central role in most renewable energy plans because it can be consistently produced at large and small scales. This reliability is essential for bolstering systems that use variable energy sources like wind and solar power.

While hydrogen is unlikely to become a nation’s primary energy source, it’ll be foundational in grid stabilization since it can be made anywhere at any time in large quantities (with the right equipment).

Hydrogen’s energy storage properties may even replace high-emission peaker plants, which meet surges in energy demands but are rarely equipped with pollution-capturing systems. Integrating hydrogen power could provide a clean alternative.

As a scalable energy solution, hydrogen production and distribution can function decentrally, keeping community electricity flowing even during wider outages.

Hydrogen’s ability to function independently or in tandem with a smart grid can ensure that even remote regions have access to consistent supply. Research suggests hydrogen offers a more convenient solution for grid extension than fossil fuel-based energy.

Challenges in Implementing Hydrogen for Grid Stabilization

Hydrogen power has great potential to reduce our use of fossil fuels, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and maximize our utilization of renewable energy sources. However, there are several hurdles to clear before establishing hydrogen in power grids.

Infrastructure Development

The biggest barrier to wider hydrogen use is limited existing infrastructure. The U.S., for example, has less than 80 hydrogen refueling stations across the country.

Infrastructural development requires a significant investment of time, labor, and funds. In spite of consistent price drops over time, hydrogen-based fuel and equipment are still more expensive than conventional options or other renewable alternatives.

Establishing electrolyzers for hydrogen production, specialized storage, and distribution channels are high upfront costs. However, once established, hydrogen fuel systems are highly scalable and will help mitigate the long-term costs of heavy pollution and depleting fossil fuels.

As hydrogen technology continues to advance and its infrastructure spreads, experts expect costs to continue to fall and adoption to accelerate.

Technological Limitations

By and large, hydrogen is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Though highly versatile, especially in traditionally hard-to-abate sectors, hydrogen alone wouldn’t be able to fulfill all energy needs.

Even as a grid stabilizer or peaker plant, hydrogen energy conversion processes will lose efficiency in converting electricity into hydrogen and back again.

Despite hydrogen’s capacity for long-term storage, it provides less energy per volume than other sources. More storage space will be required to meet the same needs, which poses challenges in space-limited and residential areas.

Hydrogen is also flammable and most often kept in pressurized containers, leading to safety concerns and special storage requirements. Though inconvenient, the safety risk would be no greater than for propane or natural gas, which is already stored and distributed safely at scale with basic precautions.

Some of these limitations can be mitigated through integration in “smart systems,” especially when used to co-generate heat and electricity.

Policy and Regulatory Barriers

Overcoming the aforementioned challenges requires active support from policymakers and regulatory bodies.

As a relatively new technology, hydrogen fuel is yet to be expressly named in many policies, plans, and regulations. The absence of specific rules confuses and roadblocks implementation efforts before they can even begin.

Hydrogen energy has scored some notable wins with government entities—including the Department of Energy’s allocation of $62 million for hydrogen projects— but much more government support will be needed to see hydrogen meaningfully adopted in the nation’s power grids.

Partnering with FASTECH for Hydrogen Infrastructure

FASTECH is the leader in engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance (EPC+M) for alternative fuel sources. With over 30 hydrogen fueling stations built to date, FASTECH has demonstrated a commitment to establishing infrastructure for a cleaner future.

Other achievements include offering renewable integrations with existing energy systems and developing the Port of Long Beach’s tri-generation power plant that produces green hydrogen.

Utility and energy developers looking to implement hydrogen could particularly benefit from hydrogen hubs with high-volume production, storage, and distribution capabilities. These hubs will likely take a prominent role in achieving more stable and sustainable power grids.

No matter your energy needs, FASTECH has the expertise to deliver end-to-end solutions.

Reach out for a no-cost consultation on meeting your sustainability goals with experts from FASTECH.