| GOLDEN, CO -
Xcel Energy (NYSE:XEL) and the U.S. Depaartment of Energy's National
Renewable Energy Laboratory today unveiled a unique facility that uses
electricity from wind turbines to produce and store pure hydrogen,
offering what may become an important new template for future energy
production.
Several dozen journalists,
environmental leaders, government officials and Xcel Energy managers
today toured the joint venture, which is located at NREL's National
Wind Technology Center between Golden and Boulder, Colo.
"Today we begin using our cleanest
source of electricity - wind power - to create the perfect fuel:
hydrogen," said Richard C. Kelly, Xcel Energy chairman, president and
CEO. "Converting wind energy to hydrogen means that it doesn't matter
when the wind blows since its energy can be stored on-site in the form
of hydrogen."
The facility links two wind turbines
to devices called electrolyzers, which pass the wind-generated
electricity through water to split the liquid into hydrogen and
oxygen. The hydrogen can be stored and used later to generate
electricity from either an internal combustion engine turning a
generator or from a fuel cell. In either case, there are no harmful
emissions, and the only by-product from using the hydrogen fuel is
water. On site is a new building that houses the electrolyzers and a
device to compress the hydrogen for storage; four large, high-tech
tanks to store the hydrogen; a generator run by an engine that burns
hydrogen; and a control room building, where computers monitor all the
steps of the process. Xcel Energy and NREL are each paying part of the
$2 million budget for the two-year project.
"The project allows our researchers to
compare different types of electrolyzers and work on increasing the
efficiency of a wind to hydrogen system," said Dan Arvizu, NREL
director. "And, it has the potential to point the way to a completely
emissions-free system of making, storing and using energy."
Currently, there are limitations to
both wind power and hydrogen. Wind farms only generate electricity
when the wind is blowing, which is about one-third of the time in the
United States. This creates the need for backup generation, which is
usually fossil-fueled. Hydrogen, while the most common element in the
universe, isn't found in its pure form on Earth and must be either
electrolyzed from water, or stripped out of natural gas, which are
energy-intensive processes that result in greenhouse gas emissions.
"By marrying wind turbines to hydrogen
production, we create a synergy that systematically reduces the
drawbacks of each," Kelly said. "Intermittent wind power is converted
to a stored fuel that can be used anytime, while at the same time
offering a totally climate-friendly way to retrieve hydrogen, to power
our homes and possibly cars in the future."
NREL and Xcel Energy expect to offer a
public update on the operation of the project around the middle of
2007. Results will also be shared with the Hydrogen Utility Group,
made up of Xcel Energy and nine other utility companies interested in
hydrogen's future role in the utility industry.
"Advancing knowledge and sharing
innovation are among NREL's primary goals," Arvizu said. "Our growing
strategic partnership with Xcel Energy - especially on this project -
helps us reduce the time and effort between research discoveries and
sharing the benefits of what we learn with energy consumers."
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