Today ITM Power has opened what was described as "The UK's First Public Hydrogen Refilling Station" - see M1 Wind Hydrogen Fuel Station | ITM Power
This was funded by InnovateUK - i.e. your tax. The great and the good of energy policy makers, strategists and the low carbon crowd were there to slap backs.
The station has a 225 kW wind turbine connected to one of ITM Power's electrolysers. The electrolysers produce hydrogen from water at a rate of 1kg per 56 kWh of electricity and store this in a 200 kg tank.
This can be used to compare the amount of electricity needed to fill a Toyota Mirai with an equivalent range EV like the Model S (note, this comparison was done when the Mirai was first announced).
Now supporters claim that this doesn't matter because the hydrogen can be supplied from the wind turbine.
The wind turbine is a 225 kW example but there are several in the market with that peak power, so checking a couple of datasheets...
http://www.endurancewindpower.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Endurance-X29-FINAL-Hi-Res-A4.pdf
http://www.rm-energy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/RME_WTN225_brochure_final.pdf
... you can see that the performance curves are similar.
At the site in Rotherham, the average wind speed is 6 m/s at 45m.
Being generous and taking the 40 metre hub height variants of the above turbines, it can be see that at the site (and most of England) the annual energy yield is approximately 400 MWh per year.
That works out to 1096 kWh per day or enough to generate hydrogen for 3.95 Toyota Mirai fill ups.
Are we really suggesting that all filling stations be equipped with such a large turbine?
Now ITM has announced an agreement with Shell to locate electrolysers on 3 of their forecourts. OLEV is funding £1.89m capex for 2 of these. The EU is providing £1.7m for opex support. Strategic Forecourt Siting Partnership Signed | ITM Power
In the most recent statement on the cost of such an electrolyser, ITM said that a 100 kg / day electrolyser (250 kW) cost £713,243 with an ongoing annual service cost of 5% or £35,662. This is more than capable of generating hydrogen for more than 4 cars a day, but it's tied to the wind turbine. Data I can find for such a turbine would indicate a further £250,000 would be needed for installation of such a size turbine. Update on Hydrogen Cost Structure | ITM Power
If they maintain that the station is 100% local renewable powered then with 4 cars a day or 1460 cars filling up per year, and assuming a cost of £10/100 miles or £30 to fill, 81% of the revenue would be needed to cover the electrolyser servicing costs alone. Of the £22 left, if it was only used to cover capex costs (ignoring for the moment the site acquisition cost, water cost, staff cost, cost of borrowing and any other overheads), it would take 118 years to amortise the equipment.
Clearly they need public support.
ITM claims they are targeting a system that can produce 1500 kg per day at 52 kWh / kg.
Such a system would need 3.25 MW for the electrolyser operating at 100% capacity. If this were at the same location, you would need 72 such wind turbines to give the annual yield needed for this amount of hydrogen (and an electrolyser with higher peak power). That presentation puts the capital cost at ~£3.3m for the electrolyser and 72 turbines would be £18m.
One might argue that they could install a much larger wind turbine than 225 kW to feed the site, but interestingly at such a location the output of a large turbine of 3 MW peak power is not much better than that of a smaller one. The average wind speed is too low - there is a reason these things are put on top of hills or out at sea after all.
ITM talks here about having electrolysers sized for the daily requirement at peak output, so this implies a stable continuous 3.25 MW supply.
In other words, there is no way that such a filling station could ever be 100% off-grid (or anywhere near it) and thus the very high grid emissions from these vehicles are totally relevant.
Except the last two sentences are mutually exclusive in any meaningful quantities...
£7.5m funding was earmarked for this technology Energy Efficiency - innovateuk. 15 stations are supposed to be open this year.
This was funded by InnovateUK - i.e. your tax. The great and the good of energy policy makers, strategists and the low carbon crowd were there to slap backs.
The station has a 225 kW wind turbine connected to one of ITM Power's electrolysers. The electrolysers produce hydrogen from water at a rate of 1kg per 56 kWh of electricity and store this in a 200 kg tank.
This can be used to compare the amount of electricity needed to fill a Toyota Mirai with an equivalent range EV like the Model S (note, this comparison was done when the Mirai was first announced).
Now supporters claim that this doesn't matter because the hydrogen can be supplied from the wind turbine.
The wind turbine is a 225 kW example but there are several in the market with that peak power, so checking a couple of datasheets...
http://www.endurancewindpower.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Endurance-X29-FINAL-Hi-Res-A4.pdf
http://www.rm-energy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/RME_WTN225_brochure_final.pdf
... you can see that the performance curves are similar.
At the site in Rotherham, the average wind speed is 6 m/s at 45m.
Being generous and taking the 40 metre hub height variants of the above turbines, it can be see that at the site (and most of England) the annual energy yield is approximately 400 MWh per year.
That works out to 1096 kWh per day or enough to generate hydrogen for 3.95 Toyota Mirai fill ups.
Are we really suggesting that all filling stations be equipped with such a large turbine?
Now ITM has announced an agreement with Shell to locate electrolysers on 3 of their forecourts. OLEV is funding £1.89m capex for 2 of these. The EU is providing £1.7m for opex support. Strategic Forecourt Siting Partnership Signed | ITM Power
In the most recent statement on the cost of such an electrolyser, ITM said that a 100 kg / day electrolyser (250 kW) cost £713,243 with an ongoing annual service cost of 5% or £35,662. This is more than capable of generating hydrogen for more than 4 cars a day, but it's tied to the wind turbine. Data I can find for such a turbine would indicate a further £250,000 would be needed for installation of such a size turbine. Update on Hydrogen Cost Structure | ITM Power
If they maintain that the station is 100% local renewable powered then with 4 cars a day or 1460 cars filling up per year, and assuming a cost of £10/100 miles or £30 to fill, 81% of the revenue would be needed to cover the electrolyser servicing costs alone. Of the £22 left, if it was only used to cover capex costs (ignoring for the moment the site acquisition cost, water cost, staff cost, cost of borrowing and any other overheads), it would take 118 years to amortise the equipment.
Clearly they need public support.
ITM claims they are targeting a system that can produce 1500 kg per day at 52 kWh / kg.
Such a system would need 3.25 MW for the electrolyser operating at 100% capacity. If this were at the same location, you would need 72 such wind turbines to give the annual yield needed for this amount of hydrogen (and an electrolyser with higher peak power). That presentation puts the capital cost at ~£3.3m for the electrolyser and 72 turbines would be £18m.
One might argue that they could install a much larger wind turbine than 225 kW to feed the site, but interestingly at such a location the output of a large turbine of 3 MW peak power is not much better than that of a smaller one. The average wind speed is too low - there is a reason these things are put on top of hills or out at sea after all.
ITM talks here about having electrolysers sized for the daily requirement at peak output, so this implies a stable continuous 3.25 MW supply.
In other words, there is no way that such a filling station could ever be 100% off-grid (or anywhere near it) and thus the very high grid emissions from these vehicles are totally relevant.
Except the last two sentences are mutually exclusive in any meaningful quantities...
£7.5m funding was earmarked for this technology Energy Efficiency - innovateuk. 15 stations are supposed to be open this year.
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