Solar power has changed the economics of remote infrastructure. But when the sun goes down, many off-grid sites still fall back on diesel. Hydrogen fuel cells can close that gap.
Hear from David Fields, Head of Product Line, who discusses one of our latest projects.
Intelligent Energy recently worked with a major international operator to develop and deploy a diesel-free microgrid for critical telecoms infrastructure in an inhospitable, arid desert environment. The system had to deliver dependable power despite extreme heat, dust, isolation and wide temperature swings.
The project put a simple question to the test: can solar, batteries and hydrogen provide reliable power around the clock, even in conditions that push energy systems hard? The answer was yes.
Replacing the diesel safety net
Telecoms sites need continuous power. A dropped connection is inconvenient for a phone user, but at network level outages can affect critical communications and wider infrastructure.
Renewables can provide much of the energy these sites need. Solar panels generate electricity during daylight hours and batteries can bridge shorter periods without generation. The problem comes when battery capacity is exhausted. Traditionally, that is where a diesel generator takes over.
For this project, we replaced that final layer with an IE-POWER™ hydrogen fuel cell system. Solar provides the primary power during daylight hours while charging the batteries. When solar generation falls, the batteries take over first. The fuel cell then provides power when required, allowing the site to operate without diesel generation.
Hydrogen stored on site also gives operators the potential for long periods between refuelling visits, an important consideration when infrastructure is difficult or costly to reach.
Built for conditions that test technology
Removing diesel only works if the replacement is every bit as dependable. That made the operating environment a major part of the engineering challenge.
The system had to contend with high temperatures, extremely fine sand, potential sandstorms and large changes in temperature, while continuing to operate with minimal intervention.
Testing covered ambient temperatures up to 50°C. We combined the fuel cell system with a temperature-controlled enclosure and additional filtration, extending its operating range and protecting components from dust.
Performance was monitored remotely by our engineering team in the UK, giving us real-world data on how the system behaved under demanding conditions.
From one remote site to many
What we learned from this project applies well beyond telecoms.
Remote monitoring equipment, utilities, transport infrastructure, industrial sites and other critical assets face the same basic problem: they need dependable power where the electricity grid is unavailable, unreliable or uneconomic to reach.
Diesel has long filled that role because it is familiar and dispatchable. But it is no longer the only practical option.
By combining renewable generation and batteries with hydrogen fuel cells for longer-duration power, operators can build off-grid systems that maintain reliability while removing emissions at the point of use.
For remote infrastructure, moving away from diesel does not require one technology to do everything. Fuel cells make it possible to build a balanced system in which each technology does the job it is best suited to.
Read more of our case studies here.