Australian startup Endua has unveiled a newly developed hydrogen power bank, capable of delivering up to 100kW of power per unit, which it claims is enough to power a water pump, farm shed, or a section of telecommunications infrastructure.
To get it out of the way; this isn’t an entirely new concept. Previously, Toyota developed a hydrogen-to-electricity generator, with a rated output of up to 100kW – but this new power bank has been developed in Australia, with funding from Ampol, CSIRO, and Main Sequence (a venture capital organisation grown out of CSIRO).
The idea is to supplement diesel generators in microgrid situations – for example, to power a work site or to power a street of houses during a natural disaster. The first of Endua’s hydrogen power banks is located in Archerfield, Brisbane, where the startup is based. It’s six metres long and three metres wide, and looks more like a shipping container than anything else.
Additionally, the solution is scaleable and energy capacity can be increased according to the demand required from it.
“Our power banks plug a critical gap in achieving the clean energy transition and stabilising power when the grid can not be relied on — especially in our regional and remote power communities — generating enough stored hydrogen to replace diesel for off-grid power generation at any site such as a cattle farm or power communications equipment operating at the edge,” Endua CEO and founder Paul Sernia said.
Just to explain the technology really quickly, this hydrogen power bank converts water into hydrogen with an electrolyser, which is why the machine looks so darn cumbersome. When electricity is required, the hydrogen is then converted into electricity, which is fed through to the microgrid.
It’s worthy of note that, just like with electric cars, hydrogen is used as an energy source and requires a lot of energy to be created in the first place – to power the electrolyser which shifts water into the gas. That energy for creating hydrogen still needs to come from somewhere, but with hydrogen stored in the power bank, it can function without needing to create more hydrogen (until, of course, it runs out).
Endua is continuing to develop the energy storage solution, with its Archerfield base being used for testing.