Thursday 14 September 2017

Hydrogen generated from tidal energy in ‘world first’

A research and demonstration centre in Scotland says it has produced hydrogen gas from tidal energy for the first time.

The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) yesterday announced it generated the “tidal hydrogen” on 25th August this year.

It also demonstrated the potential for a clean replacement for polluting fuels.

Prototype tidal energy converters - Scotrenewables’ SR2000 and Tocardo’s TFS and T2 turbine – fed power into an electrolyser situated next to EMEC's onshore substation.

Supplied by ITM Power, the electrolyser uses the electricity to split water into its component parts – hydrogen and oxygen.

The project has been supported by the Scottish Government's funding of £3 million.

Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy said: “The Scottish Government is pleased to be supporting this innovative project which will help to partially overcome grid constraints in the Orkney Islands by enabling the storage of excess tidal power generated and using that electricity to produce hydrogen.”