Low price wind and solar energy have created a chance for inexperienced hydrogen to play an necessary function in international decarbonization, however there’s a catch. The water wanted to provide hydrogen must be pure, and purity comes at a price. Driving these prices down is a next-level problem for hydrogen stakeholders, and the legacy German engineering agency Bosch is amongst these up for it.

CleanTechnica might be reporting on Bosch Tech Day 2023 in Germany this week as a visitor of the corporate.

The Inexperienced Hydrogen Alternative

Hydrogen is a zero emission gas when used to generate electrical energy in a gas cell. Nevertheless, tailpipe emissions are simply the top of the hydrogen provide chain. Hydrogen is ample in nature, however it’s not naturally discovered alone. It needs to be extracted from one thing else. Till not too long ago, the first supply has been pure fuel, together with coal to a lesser extent.

Renewable vitality has flipped the script by driving down the price of electrolysis, during which {an electrical} present is used to push hydrogen from water.

Hydrogen can return the favor as a result of it’s a transportable vitality storage medium in addition to an enter for gas cells. Extra vitality from a wind farm or photo voltaic array may be put to make use of for electrolysis, probably making a extra value-rich setting for traders.

Wind and photo voltaic also can convey electrolysis methods to distant areas the place water is obtainable however grid connections aren’t. The inexperienced hydrogen can be utilized on website or shipped out by truck, rail, pipeline or ship.

Water electrolysis presently accounts for only a small fraction of the worldwide hydrogen provide, however demand is rising as the worldwide economic system decouples from fossil fuels.

The use instances for hydrogen go far past gas cell electrical autos to incorporate a number of the most necessary industrial sectors within the international economic system, together with ammonia fertilizer in addition to meals processing, prescription drugs, metallurgy, and refining. Even when gas cell EVs fade into the dustbin of historical past, demand for hydrogen will proceed to develop.

Bosch Takes The Inexperienced Hydrogen Plunge

Bosch has been pivoting into new applied sciences ever since its founding in 1886, so it’s no shock to see inexperienced hydrogen enjoying the featured function in Bosch Tech Day 2023, happening on July 13 in Stuttgart.

A brand new water therapy system for electrolysis is among the many hydrogen applied sciences Bosch has been previewing upfront of Tech Day. The system represents yet one more new growth of Bosch’s enterprise, with a twist.

“Along with methods utilizing the standard water therapy methodology of reverse osmosis, Bosch additionally plans to supply new options particularly engineered for distant areas and offshore places,” Bosch defined in a press launch final week.

We’ll get extra particulars on that after we go to Bosch this week. Within the meantime, the offshore angle is of curiosity resulting from new alternatives for finding electrolysis methods, supplied by the offshore wind trade.

Co-locating electrolysis methods with wind farms provides the potential for effectivity enhancements, by shortening the space between energy era and the top person. Offshore methods additionally relieve builders from in search of area on land. Hydrogen from the operation might be shipped or pipe-lined to shore, or it might be used for seagoing refueling operations on website.

Which will look like a pipe dream over right here within the US, the place offshore wind exercise has been sluggish on the uptake. Elsewhere across the globe it’s a special story, with the newest renewable vitality hotspot to emerge being the Baltic Sea.

Extra Water For Hydrogen

Additionally related to the offshore space is new analysis demonstrating the potential for extracting hydrogen immediately from seawater, with out piling on therapy steps. Nevertheless, that would contain a fairly lengthy leap from the lab to industrial markets. Within the meantime, the price of treating seawater has been sinking alongside enhancements in the effectivity of reverse osmosis methods, with the US Navy amongst these driving the development.

Bosch anticipates bringing its water therapy methods to market subsequent yr. “The methods designed by Bosch Manufacturing Options aren’t solely strong and low upkeep, however in comparison with options generally obtainable available on the market, they get rid of the necessity for chemical substances in water therapy,” Bosch defined.

“We’re growing know-how for water therapy in addition to for the era, compression, storage, and use of hydrogen – and doing so for varied sectors,” added Dr. Stefan Hartung, the chairman of the Bosch board of administration.

The Warmth Pump Connection

Though inexperienced hydrogen is the star of Tech Day 2023, no point out of Bosch is full with out pertaining to warmth pumps, that are rising as one of many foundational underpinnings of a low carbon economic system.

Bosch’s house equipment enterprise set the stage for its warmth pump journey, which started to take kind through the vitality disaster of the 1970’s. The corporate’s Junkers division produced a water-enabled warmth pump as a prototype in 1975, for use for heating and sizzling water. Bosch adopted up with the disclosing of the Trithermun experimental home in 1976, which sported photo voltaic collectors and a gas-fired backup system along with a warmth pump.

“The home supplied engineers with important insights into the optimum use of various warmth sources and hyperlink them up. As we speak, warmth pumps and photo voltaic collectors play a vital function in new buildings,” Bosch explains.

Below the rebrand as Bosch House Consolation Group, the warmth pump options nonetheless embody a hybrid system with fuel backup. As considered by Bosch, the best-case situation for warmth pumps is a brand new constructing baked with vitality effectivity enhancements. The hybrid method is designed as an inexpensive different for legacy buildings that may in any other case require a soup-to-nuts makeover.

The inexperienced hydrogen angle may provide the potential to function warmth pumps solely on renewables in older buildings, so we’ll be asking Bosch about that, too. In the meantime, the corporate is just not letting any grass develop beneath its toes. Bosch has spent the previous a number of years ramping up its warmth pump sources in Europe. Within the newest growth, final April Bosch introduced an funding of  greater than 1 billion euros in European manufacturing websites by 2030.

That might occur sooner relatively than later. Bosch is already aiming to spend 255 million euros of the whole on a brand new manufacturing plant in Poland, with development starting subsequent yr and manufacturing to observe someday between 2025 and 2026.

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