Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), GKN Hydrogen, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have partnered to launch a research demonstration project focused on innovative clean and renewable hydrogen storage using solid-state technology. The initiative will also explore how surplus renewable energy—such as solar and wind—can be used to produce and store green hydrogen.
Expected to run until December 2026, the project has received funding from both public and private sectors with the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office providing $1.7 million for NREL to deploy GKN Hydrogen’s innovative storage system, and SoCalGas contributing $400,000 to support research, development, and demonstration efforts.
What Is Solid-State Hydrogen Storage?
The clean and renewable hydrogen demonstration project, located at NREL’s Flatirons Campus in Arvada, Colorado, explores GKN Hydrogen’s advanced storage system, which stores hydrogen in a solid-state form using metal hydrides. Unlike traditional hydrogen storage methods that rely on high-pressure gas tanks, this approach stores hydrogen safely at low pressures, eliminating the need for compression. As a result, it reduces energy losses, operational risks, and enhances storage efficiency.
GKN Hydrogen’s solid-state storage system can store up to 500 kilograms of hydrogen by binding hydrogen molecules in a solid form. This storage technique offers more efficient storage and transport, minimizes the need for large storage spaces, and reduces safety risks. The stored green hydrogen will be used for on-site fuel cells to generate electricity with zero emissions, increasing the availability of on-site renewable power storage and further supporting clean energy initiatives.
Advancing the Interoperability of Hydrogen Technologies and Renewable Energy Solutions at Scale
The main objective of this demonstration project is to evaluate the use of solid-state hydrogen storage and its ability to integrate with clean energy technologies, such as microgrids, electrolyzers, and fuel cells. Leveraging NREL’s ARIES platform, researchers aim to validate a variety of commercial and industrial decarbonization applications, which could include solar, electrolyzers, battery storage and fuel cells with distribution equipment.
“This project will be the world’s largest hydrogen storage system connected to renewable energy, and the findings could be integral to advancing the interoperability of hydrogen technologies and renewable energies at scale,” said NREL’s Group Manager and Senior Scientist, Katherine Hurst.
By storing green hydrogen in solid form, the project seeks to enhance storage capacity, minimize the risk of hydrogen leakage, and offer a safer and more reliable storage solution. If this demonstration project can prove to reduce the cost and complexity of hydrogen storage and distribution, it will help reduce the barriers to deploy green hydrogen for large-scale decarbonization.
