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This is exciting because it could reduce the capital expenditure needed for hydrogen production. The biggest reason we don't use intermittent electricity genera

This is exciting because it could reduce the capital expenditure needed for hydrogen production. The biggest reason we don't use intermittent electricity generation (wind, solar) for hydrogen production or desalination is that a significant fraction (~30%) of the total cost is capex. The efficiency here is lower by a factor of 2 or 3 for electrical consumption (for now in the lab), but if you can get electricity at near zero cost for a few hours a day this could make economical sense.

prox 4y ago
Had to look capex up : business, finance CAPitalEXpense or CAPitalEXpenditure; A financial term for the initial costs of a business, in contrast to operational expenditure.
- HPsquared 4y ago
  Commonly used along with OPEX (operating expenditure).
- stevage 4y ago
  Not just a business but any project. The cost to start something vs to run it.
londons_explore 4y ago
I think a big part of the reason we don't do it is that if negative/zero electricity prices were expected to be common in a location for many years, then it would usually be more profitable to build more transmission capacity to take that power to consumers who will buy it for more money.
- h0l0cube 4y ago
  The big reason for doing this is arbitrage across time. Solar generation is increasing exponentially, to the point where it makes sense to have excess generation and store it for night time. Hydrogen could be a companion technology for intermittent renewable energy sources.