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In what is being billed as the first application in the world application like this, Young Brothers, the company that handles all interisland barge shipping in Hawai'i, will pilot test a hydrogen fuel cell unit to generate electricity for refrigerated shipping containers, replacing diesel powered generators.
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The fuel cell unit will be built by Sandia National Laboratories. It will be made up of four 30-kilowatt fuel cells, a hydrogen system and power conversion equipment, according to Young Brothers.
It will sit inside a 20-foot shipping container and will be portable.
Joe Pratt, the project’s manager, said the unit is the first ever built of its kind and the the technology could spread other ports across the world.
By putting the unit inside a standard ISO shipping container, it can easily be transferred to other barges using Young Brother's container handling equipment.
And I think the technology of using solar and wind power to generate hydrogen from water by electrolysis holds a lot of promise in the state.
Another use I can see for these HFC containers is emergency power.
I wonder why the people who were so critical of the thread I started on hydrogen vehicles haven't posted their same ludicrous objections to these HFC barges?
Since they are small and portable, I would suspect methanol, though CNG is also an option.
Those were my thoughts. I couldn't find information about the fuel cells from the story, google or a visit to the Sandia Labs website. Without knowing the process for production of hydrogen, it's tough to know how green this is (or isn't).
For the purpose of this "proof of concept" trial run I imagine it will be shipped in from the mainland in tanks, although in the long run it could be produced locally from water using electricity using the process called hydrolysis, or from water directly using solar energy in the process called photolysis. Both are evolving rapidly in response to a perception of increased future need.
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Originally Posted by DCforever
I wonder why the island was using diesel rather than LNG.
There is no LNG in the islands. Diesel is produced by 2 refineries on Oahu, using oil brought in by tanker.
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Originally Posted by DCforever
Since they are small and portable, I would suspect methanol, though CNG is also an option.
No, I believe that what the article said, that they would be powered directly by hydrogen.
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Originally Posted by Zot
Those were my thoughts. I couldn't find information about the fuel cells from the story, google or a visit to the Sandia Labs website. Without knowing the process for production of hydrogen, it's tough to know how green this is (or isn't).
It's zero emission, for one thing. And it doesn't have all those pesky fossil fuel problems, like toxic spills and residual contamination. To me, that's a net gain in sustainability.
Another use I can see for these HFC containers is emergency power.
I wonder why the people who were so critical of the thread I started on hydrogen vehicles haven't posted their same ludicrous objections to these HFC barges?
You know why.
In 2015 Hydrogen fuel cell cars will be released by Honda followed by Hyundai and several others.
GregW - we have a commercial geothermal plant in lower Puna that has been operating for 20 years, feeding electricity to the grid. It's currently rated at 38 MW.
And planning is underway for a new 50 MW plant on the other side of the island. It's said that the Island of Hawai'i has the potential for 750 MW of geothermal generation, far beyond our needs. The last King of Hawai'i had discussions with Thomas Edison about bringing this power to all the islands from the Big Island, but the project foundered on the issue of distribution.
Although I've heard rumors of individuals tapping into geothermal energy, I've never actually seen it, and I tend to doubt it, seeing all that it takes for the commercial site to tap in.
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