A unique trial of renewable hydrogen power in an off-grid coastal community in Western Australia has validated the “operating” capabilities of the nascent technology, even with repeated failures from the project’s hydrogen fuel cell.
The $9.8 million Denham Hydrogen Demonstration project, backed by $2.6 million of funds from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and another $5 million in state government money, looked to demonstrate the ability to incorporate renewable hydrogen into a microgrid powered with wind, solar and diesel.
Hydrogen, of course, has faded from view as the solution to renewable integration challenges, beaten by the plunging cost of battery storage, but it remains an option in some regions where hyper-expensive and polluting diesel is the main competition.
The Denham micro-grid combines just 790 kilowatts (kW) of wind capacity, from three small Enercon turbines and 500 kW of solar, both located out of town on the road to Monkey Mia, along with a small 1.5 megawatt (MW), 1.7 MWh battery.
Renewables accounted for around of a third of the 800-strong Denham community’s power needs, with most of it – the town’s peak is 1.7 MW – provided by seven diesel gen-sets totalling 2.6 MW.
