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In Arabia and North Africa it makes more sense to use the solar to displace fossil fuel derived energy than to produce hydrogen - again if you want hydrogen and
by eloff 4y ago
In Arabia and North Africa it makes more sense to use the solar to displace fossil fuel derived energy than to produce hydrogen - again if you want hydrogen and you’re burning fossil fuels for electricity it makes no sense to use the electricity to get the hydrogen - use methane and cut out the middleman.
There might be some places where this could work, but they do seem quite niche.
- jjk166 4y agoYou can both provide power locally (if needed - the desert regions with little rain and cheap land tend to have minimal population) and also produce hydrogen with excess power, which could be exported to other locations, used locally as an alternative to other energy storage methods like batteries, and for various things which are not trivially electrified like industrial process heat or vehicle fuel. No one here is arguing that fossil fuels should be burned to conserve solar energy for other uses.
- eloff 4y agoExcess power would have to be very sporadic, too sporadic to offset fossil fuel generation - in which case it’s too sporadic to justify capital expenditure for electrolysis and hydrogen production. I just don’t see it.