The use of GEH₂® electro-hydrogen power generators is now increasingly common for "prime power" applications, for example on construction sites or to provide electricity for large-scale public events when power from "the grid" is not sufficient, or when there is simply no grid. However, its use as an emergency source of electricity to compensate for power cuts on "the grid", as a back-up solution, is not (yet) very widespread — even if tests have already been carried out on some sensitive sites such as hospitals and data centers.
The Air Liquide site at Les Loges-en-Josas houses five buildings for the group's Research and Development teams. As such, it is crucial that the installations do not suffer from any power cuts. The GEH₂® that has been installed is thus configured to take over in the event of interruption in power supply. It works in tandem with a UPS which gets first into action, while the GEH₂® gets started. The electro-hydrogen power generator is then supplied with hydrogen from hydrogen racks stored in high-pressure canisters via a pressure regulation module. The whole set-up is automated and can instantly deliver 50kW of power.
All the details of the implementation of such a "back-up" solution are explained in the video below.