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Hydrogen powered buses


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https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/2847385/aberdeen-hydrogen-double-decker-buses1/

 

The trial has proved it to be viable.

Not far from me as the crow flies, so to speak,
Orkney Islands council are looking at hydrogen powered ferries (as well as motor vehicles).
Also on Orkney, a prototype hydrogen powered passenger plane is being developed.

Interesting times.

 

 

Ian.

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Bit light on technical detail, but seem to be electric buses with hydrogen fuel cells rather than batteries.  Interesting technology.  Though hydrogen is rather low energy density and somewhat scary stuff being very inclined to sneak out of small gaps and very easy to light!

I appreciate the irony of Aberdeen - UK capital of the oil industry...... :biggrin:

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Yeah, Orkney were pretty much forced into it. They produce far more power than they require from wind, and in addition they are also one of the main wave power testing hubs (and some of the test rigs are massive!) However they only have a small interconnector back to the mainland so they were left with the question as to what to do with all the excess.

Until last year (I think) residents who owned electric vehicles could charge them for free, and this is partly why they have moved to building hydrogen powered ferries etc.

I believe a chunk of Kirkwall is already powered via hydrogen, they started production a while back and needed somewhere to use it.

I am following with interest, I discovered this several years ago when I was lassoed into the current relationship, herself's father is heavily involved in one of the wave power projects.

Phil

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Hello Phil,

 

that is repeated in Scotland itself as they have more wind power capacity than the grid can carry when wind is strong.  This means that Scottish wind farms are paid to not generate (At  a higher cost than if they were paid for their power).

Alec

 

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2 hours ago, 2.5piman said:

Hello Phil,

 

that is repeated in Scotland itself as they have more wind power capacity than the grid can carry when wind is strong.  This means that Scottish wind farms are paid to not generate (At  a higher cost than if they were paid for their power).

Alec

 

To expand to your comment Alec, if I may....

The links to the national grid are being upgraded
(the subsea link from Wick to Blackhillock(near Keith) cost £1.1 billion.
The Beatrice Offshore Windfarm creates so much electricity that it has it's own subsea link.
BOWL cost £4.5 billion).

There is currently work going ahead to connect Shetland to Wick via a subsea cable
to permit the export of electricity from Shetland).


Scotland has over 90% of the UK's freshwater, hence the huge hydroelectric production.
There are projects under way to expand on this. 
As these come into use, the requirement to switch off wind farms is reduced because the wind generated electricity
is used to pump the water back to the hydro schemes' upper reservoirs. Banking.

 

 

Ian.

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I like the fact technologies are being trialled.

Hydrogen has a few issues, as Nick points out it is a true escape artist, but it should be possible to build leak-free systems. And teh energy density is indeed low, something people forget. But teh most troubling one is the inefficiency of the electricity-hydrogen-electricity or indeed heat process. 20% (that is the very best figure, most are worse) is lost by electrolysis. 40-60% efficiency of a fuel cell, or 25% or so with ICE. Those figures are terrible compared to batteries. But then the batteries are another heap of pain.

I am hopeful that a good solution can be found. And good to see Mr Biden is taking climate change seriously. Though any good work he does could easily be undone in 4 years time if he pushes the American people too far too fast.  But getting the worlds largest economy on track would be great news. 

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  • 1 year later...

Been talked about for a while now,
at last a date for hydrogen production in Easter Ross…2024

 

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There is a lot happening in the Cromarty Firth as the transition from oil gets
under way. Along with parked up oil rigs are the bright yellow offshore wind turbine jackets.
Major port expansion and the construction of three factories.
Not the far away, at Ardersier the port and fabrication facilities are being repurposed 
for the renewables industry

 

 

Ian

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28 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

The spaceport maybe a bit fanciful?

Maybe not a fanciful as you suspect? I'm assuming you might not be aware of the push to build one at the north edge of Scotland?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-48119118

Hydrogen power is already used on Orkney, who due to the low capacity of the links to mainland cannot export a lot of the power that is produced there (many tidal and wave power projects are tested around Sullom Voe, and the power has to go somewhere). So instead they produce hydrogen and take it too Kirkwall and use it there.

https://www.orkney.com/life/energy/hydrogen

So the technology is there and has been for a while, I'm just slightly surprised it has taken this long to reach mainland Scotland.

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Hi,

 I am involved in the development a Hydrogen truck as we speak.

It is an EV truck that uses the H2 to charge the EV batteries when the truck is not driving.
The H2 is used via a module to charge the main cells/batteries.
Looks promising.

Cheers,

Iain

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11 hours ago, spitfire6 said:

Hi,

 I am involved in the development a Hydrogen truck as we speak.

It is an EV truck that uses the H2 to charge the EV batteries when the truck is not driving.
The H2 is used via a module to charge the main cells/batteries.
Looks promising.

Cheers,

Iain

Iain,

Why?    An EV goes:  source of electricity > transport via the grid > storage in the EV > use of electricity to move.    Each ">" has some inefficiencies.

Your project goes:

Source of electricity > H2 generation >  H2 storage and transport > H2 storage in EV > Generation of electricity from H2 >  use of electricity to move.

You would seem to be adding H2 as a transport and storage medium, with its own inefficiencies.   And to add the very heavy H2 storage kit to the vehicle.

 

Surely a better way to  move heavy freight would be by providing the moving truck with a constant supply from the electricity source?      Overhead cables and a pick-up slider, like the old trolley buses, but the cost of  fitting those to motorways would be prohibitive! ("Smart"  motorways have been bad enough!)  What about dedicated way, for them, and rails to guide them so no need to steer?     A "rail-way"!    Wow, I'm a genius!

John

 

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Hydroliner makes it sound like a boat!

Good news story but there's something amiss with the numbers on the side of the bus isn't there?? According to Google it's 40k miles around the globe, so 1 million miles would be 25 times around. And 100 million miles sounds like too many for 15 buses around Aberdeen in a year

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