How the Netherlands is Fueling a Green Hydrogen Future

Rijnstate Elst Hospital has Electrolyser & Hydrogen Storage

Rijnstate Elst is a new hospital in the east of the Netherlands. Interesting are its energy parameters: 60% self-sufficiency, 2,300 m2 solar panels that can feed a locally-installed 100 kW electrolyser from the Spanish H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies and 200 kg hydrogen storage.

[source] – Rijnstate electrolysers and 30 bar low pressure hydrogen storage tanks

[nl.wikipedia.org] – Rijnstate
[rijnstate.nl] – Duurzaamheid in Rijnstate Elst
[allesoverwaterstof.nl] – Rijnstate hospital provides sustainable care with new innovations and a hydrogen energy system
[Google Maps] – Location

K2CO3 Salt Heat Battery

Dutch language video.

Space heating solution using K2CO3 and water.

K2CO3 generated using renewable energy/process heat.
Generating heat by mixing K2CO3 and vaporized water.
Output: hot air.
Operating temperature: 60-65 C.
Reverse process: dry the K2CO3 using industrial process or local (summer) solar heat.
400 kg salt suffice to bridge a winter for a single household.
Entire sea containers can be used to heat apartment buildings. Twice/year they need to be charged at a source of industrial heat.
Bulk price K2CO3: $1150/ton

[deepresource] – Heat Battery Based on Salt and Water – TU-Eindhoven
[tue.nl] – How the Eindhoven heat battery can quickly make millions of homes gas-free

Battolyser Eemshaven Operational

Battolyser: a battery that stores electricity and switches to hydrogen production, if the battery is fully charged.

[source] Battolyser Eemshaven

[agro-chemie.nl] – RWE plaatst eerste Battolyser in Eemshaven
[deepresource] – Our Battolyser posts
[nl.wikipedia.org] – Battolyser

Iron as Storage Medium for Hydrogen

Hydrogen is difficult to store and transport, with large volumes and high pressures and flammability involved. Students of the Technical University of Eindhoven are trying a new approche to hydrogen storage:

The system works as follows; the energy of hydrogen is stored via a reaction with iron oxide (also known as rust), producing iron and water. In the process, the iron serves as a storage medium that can be easily transported. Then, to provide hydrogen, iron must be brought into contact with steam, after which hydrogen and iron oxide remain. This creates a cycle in which iron acts as a kind of sustainable ‘hydrogen battery’, with the note that it is not hydrogen but iron that is stored and transported.

Thanks to iron, volumetric energy density of stored hydrogen, absorbed into iron pellets, can be increased by a factor of 3, at convenient ambient pressure.

[tue.nl] – TU/e students use little iron balls to safely store and transport hydrogen
[wikipedia.org] – Iron hydride
[wikipedia.org] – Hydride

How to Best Orient Solar Panels?

Go vertical!

Spoiler: vertical panels have a much higher heat transfer coefficient and hence lower operating temperatures.

YouTube text:

Have we been doing Solar wrong all along? Solar panels facing up towards the sky, which makes sense. You want a wider area to catch more of that sweet solar energy, right? However, bifacial vertical solar panels have started to gain traction recently. Their more flexible-footprint has innovators in Canada, Norway and elsewhere testing them in all kinds of weird scenarios. People who are using these panels are reporting something odd – higher energy yield than expected. The extra yield stumped engineers, but a recent Dutch study may shed some light on the source of this extra energy. Have we been doing solar panels wrong this whole time, or is it all just a miscalculation? And how could this tech impact our lives?

[pv-magazine.com] – Researchers shed light on mysterious, higher energy yields in vertical PV systems

1444 m Mineshaft Gravity Storage Facility in Finland

Gravitricity from Edinburgh wants to exploit a depleted metal ore mine in Pyhäjärvi, Finland and use it for gravity storage via lifting and sinking of large weights.

[rechargenews.com] – Gravity-based green energy store plan at one of Europe’s deepest mines
[gravitricity.com] – Corporate site
[huismanequipment.com] – Professional heavy lifter partner Huisman

SolaRoad Went Bust

SolaRoad, a joint-venture of TNO, Strukton and the province of North-Holland has liquidated itself. It was an attempt to figure out if all bicycle paths in the Netherlands could be covered with solar panels, but the business case proved to be not convincing. Nice try.

[wattisduurzaam.nl] – Ontwikkelaar geflopt zonnefietspad in Utrecht opgedoekt
[noord-holland.nl] – Last project near Schiphol Airport
[deepresource] – Our many SolaRoad posts

Why Hydrogen does have a Future

YouTube text:

In the summer of 2023, the Rijnstate hospital of Elst, The Netherlands opened its doors. What makes this particular campus interesting is how it generates its energy. Heat pumps, PV panels, and an electrolyzer all work in concert to maintain a constant supply of power. The building collects energy from over 1,300 solar panels located on both the roof and the ground floor. When there’s a surplus of solar, that energy goes toward electrolysis, the splitting action that produces hydrogen. This then allows for hydrogen fuel cells to kick in as a form of reserve power when the sunnier supplies are low.

AquaBattery

Norwegian power giant StatKraft will financially back the Dutch startup AquaBattery, that has been working on a salt water battery for some time.

[rechargenews.com] – New saltwater battery could ‘revolutionise’ green energy storage: Statkraft

[deepresource] – Energy Island in Zeeland with AquaBattery
[deepresource] – More on Salt Water Batteries
[deepresource] – Salt Water Battery