Hydrogen makes inroads into transport, buildings and power generation industries: The race to provide cleaner energy is accelerating, and as the output and efficiency of renewables grows, energy storage has become increasingly pressing problem. Hydrogen is fast becoming a leading alternative for energy storage for renewable power generation facilities, due to its light, storable, energy-heavy nature and the fact that it does not produce carbon emissions. It is also poised to have significant impact on the way we manage heat and electricity in our buildings, which accounts for 30% of the world’s final energy use. Hydrogen is now being trialled on an increasingly ambitious scale as a zero-carbon alternative for heating and powering buildings, where success could bring rapid and monumental sustainability gains for the industry.
Microgrids look to hydrogen: The increasing use of microgrids stems from their growing versatility and reliability to bring power to areas far from the main electricity grid. With hydrogen offering viable long-term storage solutions without sacrificing the environmental sustainability element, microgrids are set to become markedly more cost-effective and the route of choice for more isolated areas, regions vulnerable to extreme weather, and more.
Growing efficiency gains in solar-to-hydrogen production: Last month a research team at the Australian National University (ANU) announced that they had recorded a new world record in solar-to-hydrogen production efficiency at 17.6%, which they achieved through the use of perovskite-silicon tandem absorbers. This is a substantial milestone in the ongoing journey towards creating a way to store and transport solar-produced energy at scale and in an economically viable manner.
