How is electricity generated using hydrogen?
Hydrogen is burned in a turbine that is connected to a generator to make electricity.
How does hydrogen work?
Hydrogen can be made from different sources like methane, plants (biomass), and water. When hydrogen is made using traditional methods like steam methane reforming combined with technology to capture the carbon emissions, it's called Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) hydrogen or 'blue' hydrogen. When hydrogen is made by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity, it's called electrolytic hydrogen, and if it comes from nuclear power, it's called 'pink' hydrogen.
Both CCS hydrogen and electrolytic hydrogen are classed as 'low-carbon' by the UK Government if they meet certain standards. Hydrogen isn't used much to generate electricity on a large scale in power plants, but it could be in the future.
For some time now, we have used natural gas in power plants. In fact, most of our homes, and around 40% of the UK’s total electricity generation, rely on gas.
When we burn hydrogen however, the only by product is water vapour, making it a potentially cleaner alternative to support Great Britain’s longer-term net zero 2050 goals.
How does this benefit the grid?
Hydrogen is interesting because it has the potential to be stored for long periods. There’s also the benefit of being able to transport it along existing infrastructure, though this is also not without its challenges.
“Hydrogen has the potential to act as a storage medium for times when you have excess generation from renewables, such as wind,” said Robert Gibson, Senior Analysis Manager. “It would be produced via electrolysis, stored - potentially in large volumes for extended periods of time - and then when there is a requirement for additional electricity, the hydrogen could be used in a hydrogen-powered power station.”
Electrolysis can also offer flexibility to the network when it becomes congested during peak periods of generation by renewables.
“Electricity can be converted to hydrogen if there’s network congestion and then either transported to be used elsewhere in the country or stored until needed at a later date,” explains Robert. “You could even leverage existing natural gas infrastructure and pipe it straight to homes and businesses.”
Further work towards our ambitions
For transport, there are already cars that run on hydrogen fuel cells. Japan has almost 100 public hydrogen refuelling stations, allowing you to fill up your car just as you would with petrol or diesel. Other countries including Germany and the US also have hydrogen stations.
“I’d say hydrogen fuel is promising for heavy good vehicles,” says Robert. “It’s more energy dense and can be offer quicker refuelling than electric. But they’re also building electric HGVs so there’ll be competition. In all our future energy scenarios, we look at the whole range.”
The potential for hydrogen supply is explained fully in our Future Energy Scenarios (FES) Publication.