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Home » Solar Energy » Off-grid power supply
Off-grid power supply
Distributed energy supply (as opposite to the existing grid system) and energy independence are certainly the future not only in rural areas, but rural areas without access to the grid are the starting point for solar PV/wind power generation and battery/hydrogen power storage.
The missing link is cheap and efficient power storage (long term seasonal is more difficult than short term day/night). Novel battery chemistries are under development that meet required life cycles and other performance parameters (10,000 charge cycles at any PSoD, 100% DoD, no maintenance, ambient temperature), but not yet available for the mass market. Safe and cost efficient hydrogen storage is pure SciFi, as currently available round trip efficiency is less than 20% (H2-electrolysis / storage / fuel cell) and safe H2-storage that you can bring into the household does not yet exist.
Any combination with natural gas, i.e. solar PV/wind + natural gas operated SOFCs are a viable solution for distributed power generation - see CALLUX project in Germany - and with the Black Gold Rush in the USA (shale gas fracking) there seems to be no end to natural gas reserves.
Gas/PV/wind is the lowest cost off-grid concept available today, sadly it depends still on fossil fuels and spills CO2 all over the place, but oil dependency could be drastically reduced if not avoided by combining this with e-powered short distance transportation. Long distance transportation will depend on the ICE for quite some time until the so called hydrogen economy takes over with fuel cell powered vehicles.
Last but not least it is important to mention the Fifth Fuel, i.e. energy savings having the single biggest potential for making households or rural areas energy independent.
The missing link is cheap and efficient power storage (long term seasonal is more difficult than short term day/night). Novel battery chemistries are under development that meet required life cycles and other performance parameters (10,000 charge cycles at any PSoD, 100% DoD, no maintenance, ambient temperature), but not yet available for the mass market. Safe and cost efficient hydrogen storage is pure SciFi, as currently available round trip efficiency is less than 20% (H2-electrolysis / storage / fuel cell) and safe H2-storage that you can bring into the household does not yet exist.
Any combination with natural gas, i.e. solar PV/wind + natural gas operated SOFCs are a viable solution for distributed power generation - see CALLUX project in Germany - and with the Black Gold Rush in the USA (shale gas fracking) there seems to be no end to natural gas reserves.
Gas/PV/wind is the lowest cost off-grid concept available today, sadly it depends still on fossil fuels and spills CO2 all over the place, but oil dependency could be drastically reduced if not avoided by combining this with e-powered short distance transportation. Long distance transportation will depend on the ICE for quite some time until the so called hydrogen economy takes over with fuel cell powered vehicles.
Last but not least it is important to mention the Fifth Fuel, i.e. energy savings having the single biggest potential for making households or rural areas energy independent.
It is defiantly on the right track. It is imperative we get away from oil and coal for our main energy source. We have two nonpolluting energy sources which will provide us with an endless supply of energy yet the majority tends to ignore them. The Sun and Hydrogen! My approach is to use both for small scale CHP for homes and small business. Use HHO generator with a separator cell powered by PV panels (no inverters 48 volts to HHO cell) run a PEM cell to generate electric with the H2 generated by the HHO generator/ separator cell and collect and compress the excess H2 for night time use by the PEM cell. Use the heat generated by the PEM cell to heat potable water, provides hydronic or forced air space heating. My challenge is to bring the price down on the PEM fuel cell, I am working it.
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