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Re:New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutti... by jbpetersen on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @01:54PM (#11630203)
Better yet, those fuel cells can be "charged" wherever energy is plentiful then shipped as needed.

Sneakergrid anyone?

Re:New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutti... by ssmoot on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @10:22PM (#11633544)
Is there an alternative to platinum yet?

Fuel cells sound really neat, and I had no idea you could actually by your own until a couple days ago. But the estimate of a small continuous use unit needing to have the catalyst replaced up to annually seems to make them a novelty for now (the existing units that is).

Interested in knowing more if you keep up with it though.

Re:New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutti... by jcoffland on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @02:23PM (#11630462)
This would of course be incredibly inefficient. Maybe you were joking.
Re:New Record Bid Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Undercutti... by kragen on Wednesday May 04, 2016 @07:10PM (#11632723)
Electrolysis is too inefficient for in-place energy storage, but economies of scale could in fact make this acceptably efficient for long-distance energy transport; available solar resource varies by more than a factor of three even within the contiguous US. LNG tankers are already a worldwide business, and LNG equipment can be used to transport hydrogen, albeit at much lower energy density. (Generating methane or ammonia from the hydrogen to improve its transportability might be worthwhile.)

Transmission losses in the electric power grid are around 6.5%, but that's because the energy is typically only transmitted a few hundred kilometers; about 4000 km is the longest cost-effective distance for AC power transmission. LNG tankers can travel further than that.