IEEE Electrification Magazine - March 2018 - 60

project partners, including learning
outcomes associated with safe installation of the electrolyzer.

The Way Forward

The energy transfer
to the vehicle using
hydrogen gas is more
than 20 times faster
than the state of the
art for EVs.

the surface and maritime transport
sectors are lagging behind the electric power sector in the use of renewable energy. however, increasing
the use of electric power from renewables in the transport sectors
can help close this gap, and hydrogen gas produced by electrolysis is an energy carrier that
can enable this goal. the U.K.-based project, Island
hydrogen, demonstrated the readiness of the standalone hydrogen filling-station technology. two stations
were installed: the first one, located in sheffield, refilled
vehicles, and the second station, installed on the Isle of
wight, refilled vehicles and boats. as proof of success,
when the project ended, the sheffield station was
upgraded to 700 bar and, at the time of this writing, it
was providing commercial services.
hydrogen gas is a suitable fuel to be used for boats, as
demonstrated by the marine field trial on the Isle of
wight. the boat's converted internal combustion engine
operated successfully on hydrogen gas. the project's
consortium expects that the efficiencies of the hydrogen-powered boats will increase with the size of the vessel, with the hydrogen tanks having a lower share of the
total vessel weight. Field experiments conducted on the
electrolyzer stack showed a high reliability of the current
commercial hydrogen-generation installation by testing

22
20
18

0.95

0.9

0.85

12
10

1.05
Stack Voltage (V)

0.8
0.75

Temperature (°C)

Unit Operation (4 November 2013)

1.15
1.1

acknowledgment
the authors would like to thank their partners in the
Island hydrogen project (funded by Innovate UK, project
no. 101292): ItM power, University of nottingham, International Business Machines corporation, cheetah Marine,
arcola energy, and sse energy supply Limited.

For Further Reading
nreL. (2011). composite data products: national FceV learning demonstration. [online]. available: https://www.nrel.gov/
docs/fy11osti/51565.pdf
s. nistor, s. Dave, Z. Fan, M. sooriyabandara. (2016.) "technical and economic analysis of hydrogen refuelling," Appl.
Energy. [online.] 167, pp. 211-220. available: http://www
.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0306261915013215
University of southampton (2016, 23 June). a green transport revolution for Venice. Phys.Org. [online]. available: https://
phys.org/news/2016-06-green-revolution-venice.html
european commission. (2016, July). a european strategy
for low-emission mobility. [online]. available: http://eur-lex.
europa.eu/legal-content/en/tXt/?uri=ceLeX%3a52016Dc0501
rsK environmental Ltd. (2012). rampion offshore wind
farm: es section 30-carbon balance. [online]. available:
https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wpcontent/ipc/uploads/projects/en010032/en010032-0015506.1.30%20carbon%20Lifecycle%20and%20Balance.pdf
Fueling Protocols for Light Duty Gaseous Hydrogen Surface Vehicles, Fuel cell standards committee, sae International standard J2601_201612, 2016.

0.7

0.65
00:00

06:00
12:00
18:00
Time (Hours and Minutes)

Stack Voltage
Air Temperature

4
00:00

Ambient Temperature
Stack Temperature

Figure 9. HPaC40 in frost-protection mode on 4 November 2013.

it for long intervals of time throughout the year. the installation stayed
within normal operational para meters, even in the lower temperature ranges experienced in the
United Kingdom.
the field trial highlighted one advantage the hydrogen systems have
over eVs, i.e., the energy transfer to the
vehicle using hydrogen gas is more
than 20 times faster than the state of
the art for eVs. however, there is still
progress to be made incorporating current regulations,
codes, and standards for hydrogen energy installations.
such progress is expected to lead to faster planning permissions and more competitive insurance premiums, which
will help drive costs lower for hydrogen-vehicle owners.

I EEE E l e c t r i f i c a t i on M a gaz ine / March 2018

biographies
Silviu Nistor (silviu@yurbs.org) is with YoUrban Innovations Ltd., Bristol, United Kingdom.
Stephen Carr (stephen.carr@southwales.ac.uk) is with
the University of south wales, pontypridd, United Kingdom.
Mahesh Sooriyabandara (mahesh@toshba-trel.com) is
with toshiba research Laboratory, Bristol, United Kingdom.

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy11osti/51565.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy11osti/51565.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0306261915013215 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0306261915013215 http://www.Phys.Org https://phys.org/news/2016-06-green-revolution-venice.html https://phys.org/news/2016-06-green-revolution-venice.html http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016DC0501 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016DC0501 https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/EN010032/EN010032-001550-6.1.30 Carbon Lifecycle and Balance.pdf

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