The Power of the Tides: Green Hydrogen Production

Renewable energy production and storage is a global issue with many countries failing to sustain their electrical grids without the use of traditional, fossil fuel sources. Fossil fuels like gas, oil, and coal currently provide 81% of human energy needs because they are argued to have the most reliable storage methods. However, extracting, refining, and combusting these sources for energy use emit large amounts of greenhouse gases (GHG's) and have devastating environmental effects. Current electrical production from renewable sources is not efficient since an exceptional amount of power produced is not consumed and therefore wasted. The solution proposed is to produce electricity using underwater tidal energy turbines to power an electrolysis-based hydrogen production plant. Hydrogen is a zero-emission fuel and can be utilized in fuel-cells for hydrogen-powered vehicles or combusted to power larger facilities, institutions, and industries. Green hydrogen could be a significant solution to the energy crisis by immediately using a renewable energy source to generate an efficient, easily stored, zero-emission fuel. The plant is designed to produce 1685 tonnes of hydrogen power year powered by a 12 MW tidal turbine array.