The Subtle Art Of Knowing Stuff: hydrogen talks
Let’s talk about hydrogen. —the universe's most abundant element and the darling of the renewable energy world.
I had the pleasure of attending a workshop led by German hydrogen engineers, seasoned veterans with 40+ years of hands-on experience.
The speaker delved into the intricacies of how to design a hydrogen production plant, specifically discussing an example of a ammonia production facility, To pipe to hydrogen at 32bar to defined tie in point of the existing adjacent ammonia production facility which often operate at pressures of 40 bar or higher.
Industry inherently goes through periods where they condition themselves to operate under defined parameters. The reasons range from safety to economics typically. The ammonia production industry is no different. The speakers discussed how they are able to create cost savings and ultimately create a better engineered solution. Ammonia only needs 30 bar. It's simple, it's brilliant.
This resonated with me, especially in the context of renewable energy equipment design. The conventional wisdom often focuses on giving people what they think they want. However, as Henry Ford famously said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." It's not about giving people what they think they want; it's about giving them what they actually need.
Leadership in design is a balancing act. It's not just about meeting expectations; it's about setting them. The game plan? Keep it simple and educate. Questions are always ok, but responsible decision makers are held to a higher standard. If you're going to question the chef, at least know the difference between salt and sugar. It's not just about building stuff; it's about building the right stuff. And the real art, the one I'm still trying to master, is teaching people why we do it the way we do.
I became obsessed with Hydrogen for many reason, really its an energy obsession, not so much hydrogen… it has become hydrogen. Back to the discussion of hydrogen, the nitty-gritty of hydrogen production—where the rubber meets the road, or rather, where the water meets the electrolyzer.
Let's break down the numbers industry discusses:
Hydrogen Production: 18 kg of hydrogen per hour per megawatt. That's the stated industry target.
Water Requirement: 8.8 lit- ers of distilled water for the ideal scenario, but let's be real, we're often dealing with 13 liters or more of untreated water per kilogram of hydrogen.
Scale example: 1000 megawatts of electrolysers, aiming to produce 108 tons of hydrogen on-site.
Auxiliary Load: Ah, the million-dollar question. What happens when the sun takes a day off and the wind decides not to show up for work?
Hourly Output: 8,985 kg of H2 per hour. Not too shabby.
So, how do we handle the auxiliary load? That's where things get interesting. You see, renewable energy is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get. One moment the wind is blowing like it's trying to win a marathon, and the next, it's as still as a pond at dawn.
The challenge of auxiliary load is met through flexibility and redundancy, incorporating battery storage and backup systems. Smart grid systems and AI also play a role in optimizing energy usage, predicting downtimes, and adjusting operations accordingly.
So how do we fit into this? Well I hunt for the fat tails, those black swan opportunities. We plan to let our building projects do the talking, but our designs are elegantly solving the engineering problem’s using entirely differnt logic of proven engineering in novel configurations.
We aim to set new benchmarks, offering solutions backed by industry-leading statistics and a virtual lifetime guarantee.
Knowledge in the realm of scientific discovery has a way of snowballing. Each significant discovery paves the way for the next, and before you know it, you're on the cusp of something revolutionary.
So, let's continue to hunt for those fat tails and black swans. Sometimes, the most groundbreaking discoveries are those that have been hiding in plain sight all along.
