Reposting from the other place...
Adrienne Marshall @hydro_adrienne:
New review paper looking at hydroclimate risks to WestUS electric grid. Hoping this is useful for hydroclim researchers interested in impacts, and energy researchers interested in understanding hydroclim! no paywall: rdcu.be/dNamV
I'd have serious questions about the hydrogen storage modelling assumptions to get a favorable pathway there.
Theory and practice are streets apart and while learning curves will factor you aren't going to avoid the combustion cycle losses, while batteries (or even TES) also continue to advance.
Hydrogen is very small and tends to escape through the walls, junctions, and valves of your system (as well as embrittle those pieces). Also, not dense.
I was working in fuel cells in 2003; Hydrogen Initiative funding then ended up going mostly to O&G or Automotive players, usually for combustion.
A bit of Deja Vu now, with many new patents for hydrogen combustion engines and blended fuels (e.g. H₄ + CH₄) making the rounds again.
S. Korea and Japan have cause to pursue H₂ (China), but for the US and Europe it is mostly still about preserving O&G profit, automobile infra, and subsidy capture.
Yes I'm quite personally skeptical about where hydrogen gets useful outside of maybe some very specialized niches.
Was more surprised by the water concerns around grid-scale battery deployments, as they're scaling up fast here in CA (partly to buffer hydropower that's susceptible to drought!)
Brine source lithium is a very aggressive material processing approach - and the bulk(?) of new projects in the earthshot for battery materials. Bad for water, for sure.
There are a *lot* of alternative battery chemistries coming to market so all modelling assumptions will be upset in short order.
Thanks! Yeah, recognizing the big-picture point that different decarb pathways have different water footprints is a key point here. On the specifics, I'd look to Brian Tarroja (maybe not on bluesky?), lead author of that ref #79.
