A new report by the Department of Energy on hydrogen and fuel cells shows how fast the hydrogen economy is taking off. The report states:
- “Global sales of fuel cells, which use a chemical process to draw power from hydrogen, have more than tripled since 2008 to about 74 megawatts last year.”
- “New, independent studies highlighted the key role hydrogen should play in balancing the grid of the future.”
- There is increased interest in Europe in using “hydrogen and fuel cells for grid-scale energy storage, primarily to balance the intermittent and volatile nature of renewable power sources, such as wind and solar.”
- “Global venture capital and private equity investments in hydrogen and fuel cells nearly quadrupled between 2010 and 2011—rising from $86.5 million to $325.2 million.”
The growth will continue. “Commercial sales of fuel cell systems, which totaled 23,000 units in 2010, will expand exponentially through 2015 to about 1.6 million units and then rise another sevenfold to 11.3 million units in 2020,” according to the Freedonia Group.