LADWP says it will shift its largest gas power plant to hydrogen

Bruce66423 writes: 'The board of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on Tuesday approved a controversial plan to convert part of the city’s largest natural gas-fired power plant into one that also can burn hydrogen.

'The hydrogen burned at Scattergood is supposed to be green, meaning it is produced by splitting water molecules through... electrolysis. Hydrogen does not emit planet-warming carbon dioxide when it is burned, unlike natural gas.

'Although burning hydrogen does not produce CO2, the high-temperature combustion process can emit nitrogen oxides, or NOx, a key component of smog.

'the approved plan contains no specifics about where the hydrogen will come from or how it will get to the site. “The green hydrogen that would supply the proposed project has not yet been identified,” the environmental report says. 'Industry experts and officials said the project will help drive the necessary hydrogen production.'

Burning hydrogen produced by 'excess' solar or wind power is a means of energy storage. The hard question is whether it's the best solution to the storage problem given that other solutions appear to be emerging that would require less infrastructure investment (think pipes to move the hydrogen to the plant and tanks to store it for later use).