night train wrote:Thanks, part of the thesis will be to see how it might work and what is going to be the best way forward to using renewables, storage and the grid together.
Well, if I can be forgiven for mentioning companies who are working on the subject, it might be worth your while doing some research on ITM.
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/3 ... r+play.htm
ITM's vision is to store hydrogen produced by wind or solar energy, or off-peak electricity. 'You can't run a factory just when the wind blows, and countries with a large wind penetration have to run fossil-fuel plants in parallel in case the wind drops. So renewable energy systems don't do the job without storage,' said Heathcote.
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The company also plans to go into production in the second half of 2009 with a 1W-2W domestic electrolyser that would be used to refuel a metal hydride cylinder. This could be used with a fuel cell to give backup electricity for essential appliances, or users could buy several to use with solar panels to power a hydrogen home.
I don't totally with his thesis that renewable energy can't contribute without storage (or that grid storage does not already exist) and I have not felt inclined to buy shares in the company, but information about their activities may be of interest for your thesis.
They launched the system described in July and it was reported in the mainstream media (ie BBC and ITV).