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The EcoCube system with hydrogen from the Spanish Desigenia makes it possible to replace diesel generators with 100% renewable systems with solar energy, energy storage batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell.
Desigenia is a company specialized in energy efficiency solutions for telecommunications infrastructures. The company has been offering, for 10 years, photovoltaic hybrid systems made up of solar panels, high-cycle batteries and diesel or propane gas emergency generator sets to complement solar energy. In some cases, it has also used liquefied natural gas generator sets.
"Normally, the space limitations of isolated telecommunications centers condition the installation of photovoltaic systems, and prevent having a totally renewable solution based on solar panels and batteries, which makes it necessary to install a diesel generator set," he explains. the company, which has installed more than 300 hybrid photovoltaic systems in Spain and Latin America for the main telecommunications operators.
Now, it has developed EcoCube, a new hybrid energy solution that replaces generator sets with hydrogen fuel cells. "Its novelty compared to the rest of the hybrid systems that Desigenia installs in telecommunications sites is the storage of energy based on hydrogen," says the company, and describes the procedure: when solar energy is sufficient, the electrical energy required by installation and is used to meet demand (consumption) and the surplus is used to generate hydrogen through an electrolyser. The hydrogen is compressed and stored in bottles. "They are designed to provide between 1-10 kW of energy", they explain from Desigenia to pv magazine. “The systems are scalable, they can be adjusted according to the required power and demand, with the expansion of solar panels or an increase in the number of batteries. In other cases, the hydrogen bottles could be resized and increased”. In principle, they are designed for isolated telecommunications stations, "but if more power is required, the project would have to be studied and it is possible to design a custom-made system".
"By replacing the diesel generator with a fuel cell as a source of energy, we avoid more than 3,600 liters of fuel consumption per year," says the company. The new EcoCube with hydrogen is designed for telecommunications locations without an electrical network and with a lack of space to install the necessary solar modules. The system can be installed on sites with space restrictions with a footprint of 10×10 meters, including the tower.
Currently, the systems are being implemented in Spain, "which is where we have our headquarters and we can better coordinate the supervision and operation of the system, but we hope that by next year we will be able to implement it in other markets where we have already implemented our traditional EcoCubes (Mexico, Chile or Colombia, for example)”, says the company to this medium, and concludes by stating that “we are open to new markets if the needs arise”.
Background: TOGETHER project
“After participating in the TOGETHER project (Trigeneration with Geothermal, Hydrogen and Renewable Energies), Desigenia acquired theoretical and practical knowledge on the hybridization of renewable energies with electrolysers and fuel cells”, explains the company.
The TOGETHER project consisted of the development and testing of a system composed of the generation of electrical energy, thermal energy in the form of heat and in the form of cold, through the use of solar energy, geothermal energy and hydrogen. It is one of the projects approved and financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, in its program of collaboration challenges of the state research, development and innovation program. |
