A pilot program funded by a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy is producing hydrogen from excess renewable energy then using the gas for heating and other purposes.
The project, already running for more than a year at the University of California, Irvine, could increase efficiency of solar and wind power installations, which often generate energy in times of low demand. It may also lead to wider adoption of hydrogen in energy storage.
The project paid for by Southern California Gas Co. relies on an electrolysis machine developed by Connecticut manufacturer Proton OnSite. The equipment uses electricity to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen.
UC Irvine’s system vents the oxygen cleanly into the atmosphere while compressing the hydrogen, which is then injected into the university’s natural gas pipeline. There the gas mixes with natural gas and is burned later in a gas turbine power plant for heating and producing electricity for the campus.
Hydrogen can also be converted into methane and put into a gas pipeline or stored in existing underground facilities.
The project is promising partly because energy storage has become a focus of utilities and their regulators. Although batteries are a common way to store energy from intermittent sources such as solar and wind power, they can be expensive and somewhat inefficient.
SoCal Gas is owned by Sempra, an energy services holding company whose 2015 revenues surpassed $10 billion in 2015.
