A West Virginia coal-fired power plant that had been targeted for deactivation has been restarted under a new owner. Gov.

The plant was first scheduled to be shut down in 2018. State lawmakers approved a tax break in 2019 that had kept the facility active.

WV gave this plant tax breaks to burn coal for an unspecified length of time. The hydrogen thing is supposed to make you feel good about it.

  • lntl@lemmy.ml
    ·
    10 months ago

    Split water molecules using electricity. This requires generating a ton of electricity using a traditional power plant. You’re better off just making the electricity and skipping the hydrogen step.

    I'm not an expert, but I know poeple on Reddit say that storage is a drawback of renewables. Could energy be stored as hydrogen?

    • kersploosh@sh.itjust.works
      ·
      10 months ago

      Potentially, yes. I'm not sure about the cost effectiveness compared to other solutions like pumped storage hydropower. There's also the risk of explosion when storing hydrogen, which is a tough problem to solve.

      • lntl@lemmy.ml
        ·
        10 months ago

        the explosion thing doesn't really seem like a problem because of our relationship with gasoline and lithium batteries. maybe there could be a hydrogen future after all :)