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ITM Power chosen for Orkney tidal energy storage system

Published: 02:28 16 Apr 2015 EDT

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ITM Power (LON:ITM) has been chosen to supply a new energy storage system to the European Marine Energy Centre’s (EMEC) tidal test site on Eday in the Orkneys.

The contract has a value of £1.79mln, with the principal element a 0.5MW polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyser.

ITM’s electrolyser technology enables excess electricity to be converted into hydrogen gas, which can either be stored or injected into the gas grid solving the problem for renewable suppliers of matching energy demand with supply.

The 0.5MW electrolyser will absorb excess power generated by the tidal turbines testing at EMEC. The hydrogen gas generated will be compressed and stored, with some to be made available for a hydrogen fuel cell to provide backup power to critical EMEC systems.

Neil Kermode, EMEC’s managing director, said the electrolyser was an innovative way to tackle the shortcomings of the local grid, which is holding back marine energy in Orkney.

“It will allow us to not only pilot the production of hydrogen fuel from tidal energy, but will allow surplus renewable energy on the island to be used without having to rely upon the inadequate grid.”

Graham Cooley, ITM Power’s chief executive, added:  “This application by EMEC is a fantastic example as to how the rapid response functionality of ITM's systems offer freedom from the grid constraints of distributed and remote renewable energy."

ITM's order book is now worth £9.97mln, with a further £5.79mln of additional contracts in final stages of negotiation.

 

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