Solar + hydrogen storage probably is the only long term mass scale alternative to nuclear short of fusion.
Solar + hydrogen storage probably is the only long term mass scale alternative to nuclear short of fusion.
100%. absolutely. wrong.
Hydrogen destroys metal pipes, makes them brittle. It leaks thru solid metal steel walls. Hydrogen fires are invisible. Explosions can launch you into the orbit.
It's nothing like methane at scale, and will most likely simply be converted to some hydrocarbons.
You can blend hydrogen in to existing natural gas infrastructure at up to 10%.
There's an Australian dual fuel plant going in to service in a couple years that can do from 5% to up to 100% hydrogen in the future.
While you can't use existing natural gas infrastructure, the logistics of hydrogen are pretty similar, otherwise blending and dual fuel systems wouldn't be possible.
https://www.austrade.gov.au/news/success-stories/australia-a...
Hydrogen is generally a problem only at high pressure. Before we had "natural gas", we had "lamp gas", hydrogen and carbon monoxide delivered via cast-iron pipes.
The usual form of stored bulk hydrogen will be cryogenic liquid at only a little above atmospheric pressure.
That said, ammonia is a more practical storage medium. Unlike methane, it only needs universally available feedstocks: hydrogen from water and nitrogen from air, and may be stored at room temperature under not very high pressure.