Hydrogen energy for backpackers on top of a french mountain

In next June, the shelter of the Col du Palet (2600 m above sea level) will experience a revolution in energy production. Hikers will access to renewable electricity, regardless weather conditions, thanks to the energy storage by hydrogen technology. They will keep the mountain clean, without any compromise on comfort.

This is the result of a tender launched by the Vanoise National Park in France for a equipment supply of energy.

A consortia* responded and offered a turnkey installation connected to the existing electrical distribution for energy and power required by all time. The system includes, firstly an electrolyzer 500 Nl / h and a 2,5 kW Fuel Cell, and secondly a medium pressure storage for receiving or supplying hydrogen. Five kilograms of hydrogen will well produced and stored during the close season and will be used as a reserve of additional power throughout the opening season.

The other part of the solution implements photovoltaic solar panels connected to converters which ensure , via a storage buffer battery , the energy supply for daily operations. All equipments will be automatically controlled by an intelligent control module. A remote monitoring with an information transfer via GSM will allow to prevent any maintenance actions.

*It’s the combination of the following companies : Gest’Hydrogène, Gest’Performance, MaHyTec, Powidian and Waechter Energies.

Do you want to learn more about mountain and hydrogen? Then our latest 2 articles about Energy Observer’s village in France should be of interest to you. You can read them here and there.

PS: You can sign up to our newsletters to follow the latest hydrogen news on a more regular basis:
– “Your hydrogen news live” (to receive all our articles as soon as they are published) and 
– “Your weekly newsletter” (sent every Monday morning).