Artificial Trees in Switzerland Store Solar Energy Into Hydrogen, Could Allow Decentralized Applications [Report]

Switzerland has erected artificial trees to capture the energy from the sun. However, they don't look like regular trees.

Artificial Trees Store Energy Into Hydrogen

A new device was developed in Switzerland dubbed "artificial tree." However, they don't look like trees but satellite dishes.

The 23-foot wide structure at the école Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) could be the potential solution to energy storage.

According to Sophia Haussener, head of the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering at the School of Engineering at EPFL, their device directly stores solar energy into hydrogen. Additionally, it is not connected to the grid in its current form, "relieving" the grid and potentially enabling decentralized applications, Newsweek reported.

Haussener said the reactor is essentially just a box with an aperture [opening] through which concentrated [solar] radiation enters. The radiation is concentrated by the parabolic dish by a factor of 900 to 1000 times.

About 20% of the solar energy that strikes the reactor's surface is converted into hydrogen. Although it may not seem like much, it is higher than plants that only use roughly 6% of the energy they take for food.

According to Haussener, the system demonstration generates roughly 93 kg of hydrogen and 18330 kWh of heat annually (in a region like Switzerland). It could run 1.5 autos or meet half of the household's electrical needs while also meeting half of the heating needs of a four-person household in Switzerland.

Although the system is still on a modest scale, it may be expanded using several parallel solar dishes and slightly larger solar concentrators.

The technology also produces heat and hydrogen as a kind of energy. The system efficiency increases to 45 percent when the generation of this heat is also taken into account, according to Haussener.

Even the by-product of oxygen, which is frequently regarded as a waste product in the synthesis of hydrogen, has applications. Since oxygen can be quite valuable in medical applications, they built the system with the capacity to gather oxygen from the beginning. Given that another product [from this reaction] can be valued, this has a positive economic impact.

Artificial Trees Applications

These systems will primarily be utilized to produce green hydrogen for industrial applications, such as the production of fertilizer and the processing of metals. However, they could also be employed in residential settings.

The system could generate hydrogen that can be used for cars or stored and then converted into electricity via a fuel cell when electricity is needed," said Haussener. Additionally, heating and warm water can be produced from the co-generated heat.

Haussener also said the co-generated heat could be used for heating and warming water. The system has the potential to produce hydrogen that can be used for automobiles or stored and then converted into electricity using a fuel cell when electricity is required.

The EPFL Laboratory of Renewable Energy Science and Engineering's spin-off business, SoHHytec, is already working on the project's future stages. According to Saurabh Gupta Tembhurne, co-founder and CEO of SoHHytec, they are ramping up a system in a synthetic orchard-like setting where each artificial tree is set up in a flexible way.

Check out more news and information on Energy in Science Times.