Australian Hydrogen Energy Storage System

Can a green hydrogen storage system be installed in the UK?

Australian technology company Lavo’s innovative energy storage system – based on storing green hydrogen in a patented metal hydride – has attracted the attention of the UK government which has provided financial backing to allow for a demonstration facility to be installed in England’s northwest.

What is Lavo's hydrogen energy storage system?

At LAVO, we’re focused on green hydrogen. LAVO’s Hydrogen Energy Storage System (HESS) combines patent pending metal hydride storage technology with a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, fuel cell, electrolyser, and innovative digital platform, to provide ground-breaking, long-duration energy storage capabilities.

Could a grid-connected energy storage system be based on hydrogen?

GHD, a cornerstone investor in Lavo, has secured $264,000 (£141,000) from the UK government’s Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to demonstrate the feasibility of a grid-connected energy storage system based on storing hydrogen in Lavo’s innovative and patented metal hydride.

Can you store energy as hydrogen?

Normally, people do this with lithium battery systems – Tesla's Powerwall 2 is an example. But Australian company Lavo has built a rather spunky (if chunky) cabinet that can sit on the side of your house and store your excess energy as hydrogen.

What is a hybrid energy storage system?

A hybrid energy storage system provides benefits of both storage technologies. The hybrid inverter manages the flow of electrical energy between the solar cell array, the LAVO™ and the household. The electrolyser converts excess electrical energy from the solar system through electrolysis, where the water is split into hydrogen and oxygen.

Where is hydrogen stored?

All the hydrogen is stored in four small red hydride containers; the rest of this beefy cabinet is taken up with the electrolyzer, battery, and fuel cell stack And the final joy killer is the system's maximum continuous power output of 5 kW, limited presumably by the throughput of the fuel cell.