Steve Johnston, the new Executive Director at Open Cape joined us for the Infrastructure Committee’s November meeting. He discussed Open Cape’s new web-site which is expected to launch in mid-December.
We were also joined by Carl Persson of Ocean Solutions.
Carl has a start up business making hydrogen by electrolysis more efficiently. Not only can hydrogen fuel could replace diesel power, but hydrogen can be used as energy storage. Carl sees using it commercially in microgrids.
Microgrids, he said, accept supplies of energy from multiple sources – solar, wind, and anything else. A microgrid on Cape Cod would be fueled by solar and supplemented by grid energy. Energy storage in microgrids make them especially useful for commercial and industrial properties. Most of their bills, he told us, is not usage but demand charges. Carl’s system would counteract that – using stored energy during peak times and enabling even a solar system with fluctuations to meet the demand at night.
Besides the cost-saving benefits, if you have storage and sunlight, the microgrid can provide backup in the event of a storm or natural disaster.
The end goal, Carl said, is lower cost for fuel energy and improved environmental quality. The system he’s developing as a start up would be best applied to larger scale projects, as opposed to Elon Musk’s batteries for home use.
The Infrastructure Committee meets on the third Wednesday of every month. All are welcome to attend.