Fife means business.

Hydrogen Powered Vehicles: Levenmouth Community Energy

ProjectSTEP Conference, Edinburgh

3 November 2016David Hogg, Bright Green Hydrogen

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Overview• What/How/Why hydrogen?

– Benefits– Problems

• Hydrogen Infrastructure– Levenmouth Community Energy Project

• Future Hydrogen Projects

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Fife means business.

What is Hydrogen?• Colourless, odourless,

tasteless, non-toxic, non-metallic

• Lightest gas in the periodic table

• Highly combustible – (Flammable in air at 4% -

74% concentration)• …but it has some benefits!

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How do we use Hydrogen?• Green hydrogen produced

using renewable electricity in an electrolyser

• Hydrogen can be stored as a compressed gas, liquid or in a metal hydride

• It is combined with oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity and heat

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Why Hydrogen• Zero carbon energy cycle

when produced with renewables

• Can be used to load balance excess wind and solar electricity

• Energy devolution from renewable electricity to renewable transport

• No compromise on vehicle range or refuelling time

Reaction Catalyst

(e.g.: heat; Pt+ )

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Benefits• Other benefits include:

– It has a long history of use in Scotland– City centre hydrogen buses can help reduce air

pollution– Makes use of more renewable energy locally– Electricity supplied for times there is no

renewable energy generation– Hydrogen can be used for transport, heating and

as a chemical feedstock

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Disadvantages• High capital cost of hydrogen equipment &

infrastructure– 00’s kW scale Energy Storage System ~ £1-

2million– Fuel Cell passenger vehicles ~ £60k– Fuel Cell bus 3-4 x more expensive than diesel– Engine conversions add £15-£30k to the vehicle– 10 light vehicle refuelling station ~ £300-500k– Larger refuelling stations ~ £3-5million

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Disadvantages• Other disadvantages

include:– Low energy density by

volume compared to diesel– Overall system efficiency is

lower than batteries– Town gas skill set has been

lost– Technology requires further

development– A public perception issue

remains

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Existing Hydrogen Infrastructure• Pure Energy Centre –

Shetland

• Stornoway hydrogen refuelling station

• Aberdeen hydrogen bus project

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LES Challenge Fund 2015• Seeking a major expansion of its activities,

BGH set up a consortium of organisations in 2014, involving principally Fife Council and Toshiba

• The group successfully passed both stages of the LES Challenge Fund during 2014 and 2015, resulting in a grant of £4.4m to the project

• Much-expanded, new and innovative facilities are being installed, which are scheduled for completion this summer

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The Levenmouth Community Energy Project

Map from Google Maps

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The Levenmouth Community Energy Project

• Increase in generation – 750kW to 910kW

• Increase in buildings on microgrid network

• Hydrogen energy storage system – Logan Energy

• Two hydrogen refuelling stations – Logan Energy

• Energy flow managed by Toshiba H2EMS

• Fleet of 17 vehicles• Investigation into Rural

hydrogen

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Our Vehicle Fleet• 10 Renault Kangoo electric vans, fitted

with hydrogen fuel cell range-extender• 5 Ford Transits owned by Fife Council, to

run on a mix of hydrogen and diesel• 2 Refuse collection vehicles also owned by

Fife Council, also running on a mix of hydrogen and diesel – these are a world-first

• All vehicles are dual-fuel, and so can operate even if hydrogen supply interrupted

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Fife means business.

Fife means business.

Fife means business.

Other Current Vehicle Activities• Range extended Kangoo vans will be

leased

• Training of staff for both operation and maintenance of vehicles

• Gathering of vehicle data to maximise lessons learned

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Future Hydrogen Projects• Hydrogen refuelling station at Bankhead in

Glenrothes through Transport Scotland • Orkney Surf & Turf and Big HIT projects

• Leeds City Gate

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Conclusions• Hydrogen is a technologically viable way

to decarbonise the energy system• Further cost reductions and technology

improvements are still required• The Levenmouth project has several world

leading hydrogen applications• Hydrogen vehicles are here to stay (No

matter what Elon Musk says!)

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• David Hogg, Technical Managerdavid.hogg@thehydrogenoffice.com

The Hydrogen OfficeAjax Way, MethilFife, KY8 3RS01333 439 321