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raygundan t1_iyf0zwp wrote

Reply to comment by Enchydrogen in The days of the hydrogen car are already over by Sorin61

> Efficiency only matters in that case when you are extracting the energy to create the hydrogen from the grid and in my scenario that is not the case.

Sorta. What you've proposed might not be grid-connected-- but connecting your hypothetical geothermal power plant to the grid is still an option instead of using it to make hydrogen.

But broadly speaking, I'm with you-- if you have excess clean energy that for some combination of reasons cannot be utilized in any other more-efficient way than by shipping it out as hydrogen, go for it!

If somebody suggests to me "what if I build a power plant, don't connect it to the grid, and use that to make hydrogen" my first question is always going to be "what if we connected it to the grid instead?"

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Enchydrogen t1_iyf3njl wrote

Totally get that point and the only thing I can think of is (and I'm just spitballing here) something far enough away that you may lose power using traditional power lines to transfer to where its needed. What if the deserts are one of the most unused and underappreciated natural resources on the planet? Essentially becoming "oil fields" with how much they could output in solar hydrogen. No other way to get that energy from the Sahara Desert to my house/truck/airplane to transport it via H2 that I can see. Its a fantasy today, yes but I hope those places in the world that are viewed as desolate and useless can be looked at with new eyes. A desert could be a gold mine.

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raygundan t1_iyf791f wrote

> far enough away that you may lose power using traditional power lines to transfer to where its needed.

Certainly possible, but even long-range power transmission has fairly low loss compared to something like producing and shipping hydrogen.

> No other way to get that energy from the Sahara Desert to my house/truck/airplane to transport it via H2 that I can see.

You're basically saying "what if we build in this difficult area" but the difficulty of building the plant and shipping infrastructure there aren't likely to be radically different than the difficulty of connecting it to the grid. One option is going to require a pipeline, road, or rail all the way to this out-of-the-way facility-- and one option is going to require a power line. You're going to have to build "a connection" one way or the other, and it seems like it would take pretty narrow conditions to make a road viable but a power line not.

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Enchydrogen t1_iyf95lo wrote

Copy that. Thanks for the insight, man. I am hopeful but I know hydrogen has a long way to go to prove itself. Hopefully it can find a way to solve some of the worlds problems. Cheers, brother and have a good night.

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raygundan t1_iyf9g7i wrote

> Hopefully it can find a way to solve some of the worlds problems.

Agreed on that! It's one more option in the toolkit, and just because some of the more obvious niches (cars, for example) are probably better done other ways doesn't mean we won't find good ways to put it to work.

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