Bloom Energy discusses electrolyzers, hydrogen fuel cells, where the hydrogen comes from, testing, efficiency, and performance of electrolyzers at the Bloom Energy 2022 Technology Showcase.
Video Synopsis
Sneak Peak: Hydrogen
Video length: 8:32
Talking Points:
- Basic Concept of Hydrogen Fuel Cells
- Natural Gas to Hydrogen
- Where does the Hydrogen Come From?
- Fuel Cell to an Electrolyzer Making Hydrogen
- Testing, Performance, and Efficiency
Speakers
- Justin Saia, Corporate Affairs & Communications Executive, Bloom Energy
- Scott Reynolds, Global Head, Structured Finance and Corporate Development, Bloom Energy
- Martin Perry, VP of Engineering, Bloom Energy
Transcript
Justin Saia:
Going to continue his journey through our research and technical center, making his way next to our hydrogen area. Back in 2019, Bloom announced aggressive plans to enter the commercial hydrogen market. Collaborating with industry-leading organizations, Bloom Energy has celebrated several milestones since that time in the hydrogen space. We announced the commercial availability of both hydrogen-powered energy servers and electrolyzers that produce clean hydrogen. Our 100-kilowatt energy server pilot project in the Republic of Korea commenced operations in April 2021. Our electrolyzer was successfully installed in Gumi South Korea and has been producing hydrogen since January of this year. Bloom and the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory established an agreement to test the use of nuclear energy to create zero-carbon hydrogen using our electrolyzer. Most recently leveraging Heliogens concentrated solar technology and Bloom’s electrolyzer, Heliogen and Bloom successfully demonstrated an economical pathway to scalable green hydrogen production. I am very excited to announce that in December of 2021, the Bloom electrolyzer was named “Emerging Technology of the Year” at the 23rd annual S&P Platts Global Energy Awards. Let’s check back in with Scott to learn more about the exciting work Bloom is doing in the hydrogen space. Scott, take it away.
Scott Reynolds:
So Justin, I am outside, we are standing here by some really cool technology. I am joined by an old friend and colleague Martin Perry. Martin, how long have you been at Bloom Energy?
Martin Perry:
I’ve been at Bloom for 19 years now.
Basic Concept of Hydrogen Fuel Cells
Scott Reynolds:
And you have got a ton of experience working on fuel cells and electrolyzer technology.
Martin Perry:
Yes. My 30-year career in fuel cells and electrolyzers has spanned a number of different platforms solid oxide, PEM, and alkaline. So a lot of experience getting us to this place today.
Scott Reynolds:
Okay. So this is an exciting place to be for both of us. Why don’t you explain what’s going on right here with our hydrogen fuel cell?
Martin Perry:
Just like what we do with the natural gas-based fuel cell, we are putting in a fuel instead of natural gas it’s hydrogen. That hydrogen goes into our system, goes through the same electrochemical reaction, and produces electrons in a very clean and sustainable way.
Scott Reynolds:
So is this process much different than running on biogas or natural gas?
Martin Perry:
Absolutely not. In fact, the premise of our natural gas-based systems is actually on hydrogen itself. When we went from natural gas to hydrogen, it was a very smooth transition. We were able to take hydrogen directly into our systems with very minimal changes or impact.
Scott Reynolds:
So these systems right now are running on hydrogen. Where is the hydrogen right now?
Martin Perry:
The hydrogen is in a nice big white tank down at the end of the building there. It gets piped into here and gets distributed to each of these power modules.
Scott Reynolds:
So all these cameras we have going right now, my electric car on the other side of the building, and all the lighting we have inside all that’s being powered by hydrogen?
Martin Perry:
Everything we do in this facility is being powered by hydrogen.
Natural Gas to Hydrogen
Scott Reynolds:
What was it like to go from natural gas, biogas development to hydrogen? How long does something like that take to make it possible?
Martin Perry:
It was fairly straightforward. The hydrogen was the basis of our electrochemical reaction to begin with. So for us to switch over from natural gas to hydrogen it was practically seamless. We had to make a few changes in some of the hardware and some of the controls, but the big components are exactly the same. They are manufactured on the same production line as our natural gas-based systems.
Scott Reynolds:
One of the big questions is I know we got a tank back here. We need a lot of hydrogen to power these fuel cells. So where is that hydrogen going to come from?
Where does the Hydrogen Come From?
Martin Perry:
Where Does the Hydrogen Come From?
Scott Reynolds:
We have a solution for that.
Scott Reynolds:
Justin, back to you, we are going to walk over to the electrolyzers and why don’t you kick us off?
Justin Saia:
Thank you, Scott. While Scott makes his way over to see the electrolyzer it’s worth noting that dozens of countries across the globe have committed to net zero emissions goals by 2050. More than 30 countries and counting have hydrogen-specific strategies that are being activated. As the hydrogen economy grows the need for hydrogen for energy storage and power generation will accelerate. For power generation, as production of hydrogen becomes ubiquitous Bloom Energy’s hydrogen fuel cells will be another option in moving to net zero emissions. Let’s check back in with Scott.
Scott Reynolds:
Justin, we are now standing in front of some really cool technology. Also something that Martin spent a lot of time working on. Martin, what are we looking at here?
Martin Perry:
We are looking at the components that make up an electrolyzer system. We have one power module on the left, which is what we use to distribute the electricity that we need to make the hydrogen. The module on the right is the actual electrolyzer. You can see it’s almost identical to what we have for the hydrogen, methane, or the natural gas-based systems that we run.
Scott Reynolds:
These systems right now are generating hydrogen.
Martin Perry:
They are absolutely. We are taking power in from the grid and we are producing hydrogen on site right here.
Fuel Cell to an Electrolyzer Making Hydrogen
Scott Reynolds:
Okay. Same question as before, you spent a lot of time doing this. What does it take to go from a fuel cell that makes power to an electrolyzer that makes hydrogen?
Martin Perry:
I’m going to sound repetitive, but it is almost the same thing. So instead of consuming fuel to produce electricity, we are using electricity to produce fuel. The same components, the same stack components, the same cell geometry, the same manufacturing components are all used to bring this to fruition.
Testing, Performance, and Efficiency
Scott Reynolds:
And so what has it been like in terms of testing and performance and have you been happy with how these have run so far?
Martin Perry:
We have been ecstatic. So we started Bloom Energy back in the very early days doing electrolyzers. We put it on the shelf for a little while and then we brought it back in 2019. In those two and a half years, since we have been manufacturing it’s exceeded all of our expectations. We’re hitting our model targets and the production of hydrogen we couldn’t be happier with.
Scott Reynolds:
And so in terms of the huge amounts of efficiency for the fuel cells? What about the efficiency of electrolyzers how’s that compare to other technologies?
Martin Perry:
Compared to our fuel cell, we are very similar. We’re in that upper fifties percent range for LHV conversion for the hydrogen fuel cell. Yeah. When we come over to the electrolyzer we are by far the most efficient of all the other technologies, be it PEM, be it alkaline. We can hit very high numbers on our electrolyzer, which makes it one of the most attractive aspects of this whole emerging hydrogen economy.
Scott Reynolds:
This must be pretty exciting. Somebody who spent his whole career working on hydrogen and fuel cells this is pretty cool right?
Martin Perry:
Absolutely. When I started my career in fuel cells, hydrogen was the impetus for us to develop the technology. It was on a bit of a hiatus with natural gas, but that’s where we needed to be at that time. Now we are back to hydrogen. It feels like we have come full circle. Everybody’s excited about the adoption of hydrogen as a future fuel. I couldn’t be happier. This is great.
Scott Reynolds:
Very exciting here. Justin, back to you my friend.
Justin Saia:
Scott, are you having fun out there?
Justin Saia:
All right. Sounds like Scott is enjoying himself. Scott, I look forward to getting over there and seeing it firsthand this afternoon. Thank you to Scott. Thank you to the Bloom team for an informative discussion this morning about how Bloom’s technology will support decarbonization efforts around the world. Thank you to those of you joining us today, virtually to learn more about our growing business. In just a few moments, we will turn our attention to the main stage right here at our Fremont manufacturing plant, where Bloom leadership will kick off formal business presentations in our formal program for today’s conference. You will soon hear directly from our leadership team as they articulate our vision of a decarbonized energy future and detail plans to execute an aggressive multi-year growth strategy. Thanks for joining us and please stand by.