Hans-Olof Nilsson a retired Swedish engineer from the refrigeration industry decided to go off-grid with his house in a serious way, storing the summer sun as hydrogen to keep warm in the cold Swedish winter. Ikea has shown interest…this is his recipe: you take…

An Alkaline electrolyzer delivered by GreenHydrogen in Denmark as a prototype producing 2 Nm³ of hydrogen per hour. It takes 5.5 kWh to produce and store 1 Nm³ of hydrogen with a caloric energy content of 3.3 kWh. To produce 1 cubic meter of hydrogen it takes 1 liter of purified and de-ionized water. From that amount of hydrogen 1.5 kWh of electricity and 1.5 kWh of heat is generated in the fuel cell. The fuel cell heat is integrated in the general heating system of the house.

A compressor using 0.5 kWh of the 5.5 kWh necessary to produce and store 1 Nm³ of hydrogen, to compressit to 300 bars. The new and more efficient Metal Hydride Compressor System from Norwegian supplier www.hystorsys.no has no moving parts and works by temperature differentiation.  Annual production from the electrolyzer is roughly 3,000 Nm³ of hydrogen.

2,000 – 2,200 Nm³ of hydrogen will be used by the fuel cell  for room warming, hot water, as well as household electricity needs such as ventilation, washing, cooking and lighting. Charging of electric cars is of course included. There is an estimated surplus of 800 – 1000 Nm³ that Hans-Olof plans to use for a Toyota Mirai (hydrogen fuel cell-electric car) that will run approximately 10,000 kilometers on that amount. Oxygen from the electrolyze process, half the amount of hydrogen, is vented to the outside air.

The hydrogen fuel cell is a working prototype by Swedish fuel cell maker PowerCell. It was developed specifically to this house as a mutually beneficial project allowing Hans-Olof to produce the needed heat and electricity in wintertime and creating a massive amount of data and experience for PowerCell. An internet connection provides monitoring and remote control of the unit. It delivers roughly 1.5 kW of electrical power and 1.5 kW heating effect. Two grey tubes on the left bottom side of the unit takes in cooling water and returns 65-70 C hot water. Red and blue cables top left deliver 48 VDC to the earlier illustrated inverter system. An electric effect of 1.5 kW may not seem impressive, yet when it runs 24/7 to charge the batteries there is always enough energy to meet peak demands such as car charging or the heating needs of the house – in fact all functions of the house. A new fuel cell is to be delivered by the same manufacturer and is now a standard product named PS-5. The “5” refers to kW – meaning it will produce 5 kWs of electrical power and 5 kWs of thermal power