Hydrogen villages sound like science fiction, places where lighter-than-air
buildings float above the ground while jet-powered cars zip along corridors
in the sky. In fact, hydrogen is touted as the next big thing in alternative
energy, a clean fuel source that will free people from their reliance on
dwindling oil supplies.
With its wind-hydrogen village, PEI wants to be a
leader in combining the two power-producing technologies.
The government says its $10.3-million project will be the first of its
kind in the world. But will it guide the way to a brighter, cleaner energy
future, or will it just become another expensive boondoggle? In the past,
business ventures such as the infamous Bricklin car program have cost
Maritimes investors millions.
Wayne MacQuarrie, CEO of the PEI Energy Corp., expresses confidence in
the hydrogen-village concept.
"We have this wind resource and we wanted to be involved in hydrogen,"
Mr. MacQuarrie says. "We've always seen ourselves as observing the cutting
edge of new energy technologies. For us, this was an obvious way to explore
the opportunities of storing our wind through hydrogen and perhaps using
that energy when the wind wasn't blowing."
The catalyst for the project is Ontario's Hydrogenics Corp. a publicly
traded company that will use its technology to build hydrogen energy
stations, a hydrogen-storage depot and a wind and hydrogen control system
that will power the North Cape interpretative complex as well as homes and
buildings in the area.
Other work includes a hydrogen refuelling station in Charlottetown to
support up to three shuttle buses, as well as the development of fuel-cell
utility vehicles and at least one hydrogen-powered farm.
PEI has good reasons to get involved in the project. Ninety per cent of
the small island's power comes from elsewhere and the imported energy has
led to high prices.
Over the years, that has led the province to look at innovative ways to
develop power sources, including a district heating system for downtown
Charlottetown that relies on energy from burning garbage in a waste plant
instead of diverting it to landfill sites.
Currently, the wind provides about 5 per cent of the island's power. The
problem is that the wind doesn't blow consistently. Hydrogenics has a
solution using hydrogen.
At the same time that the wind is providing electricity to a building, it
can also supply power to an electrolyzer. As the electricity passes through
water in the electrolyzer, the water is split into its constituent
components, hydrogen and oxygen.
The hydrogen is stored in pressurized tanks and after the wind has died
down, it is reconstituted through a fuel cell to produce more electricity or
even through an internal-combustion engine to provide power.
The fuel cell works like an electrolyzer in reverse, combining the stored
hydrogen with oxygen and causing an electrochemical reaction to take place.
The result is electricity, with water as a byproduct.
Randall MacEwen, the outgoing Hydrogenics vice-president of corporate
development, says the technologies -- wind, electrolysis and hydrogen
internal-combustion engines -- have all been commercialized independently.
It's the integration and the control of these components through software
that is new.
Realistically, the island is not going to suddenly switch over to wind
hydrogen from this project. Hydrogenics will be able to power only about 20
homes and a couple of industrial buildings.
And Mr. MacEwen concedes that hydrogen-powered vehicles aren't likely to
show up in car dealerships before 2010 at the earliest. Even shuttle buses
that refuel at a central depot are years away from everyday use.
Even so, Mr. MacEwen believes that at the end of the project, PEI will
have gained enough knowledge in technology integration to export both the
technology and knowledge to other jurisdictions that face similar problems.
And that is n't the only benefit. "I actually think this is going to be a
significant opportunity for PEI, even just from a tourist perspective," Mr.
MacEwen says. "I've been in the hydrogen-fuel-cell business for quite some
time and people will underestimate what kind of draw this is going to be to
PEI."
Mr. MacQuarrie agrees that the hydrogen village is only the beginning and
that it will take a number of years to develop. "But it's got to start
somewhere," he says. "It's an investment in tomorrow's technology today."
MacMurray Whale, an equity analyst with Sprott Securities Inc., says the
reason demonstration projects such as the PEI wind-hydrogen village are
springing up is because the technology is not yet commercially viable.
However, Mr. Whale says Hydrogenics has showed a strong track record of
carrying out a large amount of research and development for a fairly low
cost. The difference between Hydrogenics and other firms in the field, he
says, is that engineers rather than business executives head the company and
they are much more focused on pure applications rather than products.
That said, Mr. Whale believes that while everyone is currently fixated on
hydrogen-fuel cells, other companies are doing different forms of energy
storage that he believes will provide strong competition to hydrogen.
For example, he points to Vancouver-based VRB Power, a firm producing a
flow battery that is similar to a fuel cell except that it uses a liquid
electrolyte to store and charge the energy and then flow it back when
required.
"There's no hydrogen made. There's no hydrogen storage needed. There's no
platinum [a component in hydrogen fuel cells] needed, because there's no
catalyst in the electrolyte, and they can make it for a dollar a kilowatt,
which is on par with lead acid batteries."
Over time, the cost of hydrogen generation equipment and fuel cells must
come down in order to compete with current power sources, Mr. MacEwen says.
He argues that with the cost of oil at more than $60 (U.S.) a barrel, and
considering its other costs -- environmental degradation, climate change and
war in the Middle East -- hydrogen power will soon look very appealing.
"The opportunities for wind are going to grow. The opportunities for
hydrogen are going to grow. We're just marrying them and I think there's a
great future here for this," Mr. MacQuarrie says.
Charles Mandel is a freelance journalist in Prince Edward Island.