LAVO’s Australian Made Hydrogen Battery: Incredible Engineering. Tough Sell.

If all you’ve ever wanted out of life is to own an Australian made, hydrogen-powered, fuel cell, energy storage system then I have some really good news for you.  In October, Australian company LAVO launched a hydrogen energy storage system for homes and businesses.  While it’s mainly a fuel cell, they refer to it as a hydrogen battery, so if you want to call it a battery knock yourself out.

In case this news has made you too excited to read complete sentences, here are a heap of bullet points on its main features:

• 40 kilowatt-hours of energy storage.
• 5 kilowatts of power.
• Around 50% efficiency.
• Requires a separate hybrid inverter.
• Requires a water connection.
• Annual professional maintenance will be either required or recommended.
• 10-year warranty.
• It’s 324 kg and is around the size of a large double fridge.
• It requires outdoor installation
• First units available June 2021.
• The price is $34,750.

I’m really impressed with LAVO’s technology.  If you told me a few months ago a hydrogen energy storage system would be ready for residential use by the middle of next year I would have scoffed at the idea.  I would have scoffed hard.  But LAVO has managed to cram a hydrogen fuel cell storage system into a surprisingly small massive cabinet. 

The bad news is, I don’t see how it can compete with battery storage.  Unlike lithium batteries, it may suffer little or no deterioration in capacity over time, but this advantage will often be outweighed by its far lower energy efficiency.  It’s also more complex to install, requires more maintenance, its power output is limited to 5 kilowatts, and its 10-year warranty length is fairly typical.  The cost per kilowatt-hour doesn’t compare badly with lithium batteries, but because it stores 40 kilowatt-hours the cost per unit is high.  The price will be reduced by 15% in September 2022, but I doubt that will be enough to make it competitive.    

While I can think of some applications where hydrogen fuel cells may be the bee’s knees, I think LAVO will have a hard time selling residential units in this country once all the hydrogen enthusiasts have one.  But if you want an energy storage system made in Australia, this is definitely an option.  Another option would be to load up on Century lead-acid batteries.  They will be more energy efficient. 

What The Hell Is LAVO?

LAVO is an Australian company that developed their hydrogen storage system with the help of the University of New South Wales.  The fuel cell was developed by Nedstack in the Netherlands but will be made here.  Manufacturing will be done by Varley, a large Australian engineering firm, in Australia. 

LAVO says they will create 1,400 jobs in Australia by 2025.  I wish them luck, but I will note that when new companies say how many people they intend to employ in the future, they often pick a number that will get politicians on their side rather than one that is connected to reality. 

What’s In A Name?

LAVO is named after Antoine Lavoisier who was an 18th century Frenchman who married a 13 year old and was a member of the fermiers généraux.  This was a group in charge of beating people up and taking their money so the King could buy wigs.  In 1794 Lavoisier was executed for the crime of adding water to tobacco.  He was exonerated 18 months later but by then it was too late, as very few people manage to live even 17 months after having their heads cut off. 

Fortunately for his place in history he was also a great humanitarian and a kick-arse chemist, with his wife making a considerable contribution to their intellectual output.  In 1783 he gave hydrogen its current name.  This was a good thing, as the English term was “inflammable air” and there are far too many people these days who think “inflammable” means “not flammable” for the old name to be consistent with safety.

Lots Of Energy — Not So Much Power

The LAVO Energy Storage System, or LESS for short, can provide 40 kilowatt-hours of stored electrical energy.  This is far more than most residential battery systems and around three days average electricity consumption for a typical home.  But if you were hoping to use a LESS to go off-grid I’ll warn you it can only provide 5 kilowatts of power, which is not enough to lead a normal on-grid lifestyle.  You can have extra power by getting another LESS but that will cost more. 

The higher the power output the more value an energy storage system has to a Virtual Power Plant, or VPP.  This means that, despite its large energy storage capacity, the LESS won’t have a huge advantage when it comes to making money from a VPP compared to something like a Tesla Powerwall 2, which also can provide 5 kilowatts of power but only has one-third the energy storage capacity when new.

Hybrid Inverter And Water Connection Required

The LAVO Energy Storage System requires a hybrid solar inverter to operate.  A list of compatible inverters will be released in the future.  Unless you happen to have one installed and ready to go it will be an additional cost.

LAVO says it has been tested with a Sungrow SH5K-20 inverter.  This is a 5 kilowatt hybrid inverter that can provide a maximum of 3 kilowatts of power from the LESS. 

A water connection is also needed because the system works by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.  It stores the hydrogen and lets the oxygen blow away.  If town water isn’t available it will need to be connected to a water pump.  The system has its own built in water purifier.  

Overall Efficiency May Be Under 50%

In this screenshot from their website LAVO says the round-trip efficiency of the LESS is over 50%:

Round-trip efficiency includes both:

• energy lost creating hydrogen and
• energy lost using hydrogen

…as well as any other losses involved in running the system. 

Over 50% is exceptional for small scale hydrogen storage.  Its fuel cell was created by Nedstack and on this page they say the maximum efficiency of their current fuel cells when generating electricity from hydrogen is only 56%:

By my understanding, if it was the same for the LAVO Energy Storage System its round-trip efficiency would have to be considerably less than 50% due to hefty energy losses from creating hydrogen.  This suggests the LAVO must have an even higher efficiency fuel cell inside. 

This is certainly not something I would have expected in a residential hydrogen storage system at this time.

Because LAVO doesn’t say how far its round-trip efficiency is over 50%, I’ll assume it doesn’t beat it by much.  Because there will be small losses from the hybrid inverter, I expect the total efficiency from the solar panels to hydrogen storage to household electricity will be under 50%.  This means more than 2 kilowatt-hours of electricity will need to be provided to the LESS for each kilowatt-hour of stored energy output.

This compares very poorly to Lithium batteries which can have an overall efficiency above 90% when used with a hybrid inverter.

Efficiency Will Probably Decline

Over time the efficiency of fuel cells will usually decline, although this can happen very slowly.  LAVO doesn’t give any information on this but, with regard to their existing fuel cells, Nedstack states…:

“During the life of the fuel cell the electrical efficiency will decrease.”

They don’t say by how much, but they do say they can operate for over 20,000 hours before “refurbishment”. 

Water Use

With 50% efficiency, it would take at least 338 ml of water to make enough hydrogen to provide 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity.  LAVO says it will actually use around 450 ml of water per kilowatt-hour. This is a lot because water will be created when the fuel cell produces electricity.  This is probably because water is lost due to the considerable heat the unit generates.  I’m guessing the LESS relies on water evaporation for cooling, which could increase its water use in hot weather.

It Will Get Hot

The LAVO Energy Storage System’s operating temperature is from negative 10 to 50 degrees Celsius.  As long as these figures are for ambient air temperature, that’s a very suitable range for Australia.  But the system itself will produce a lot of heat.  If the LESS is around 70% efficient when it comes to providing stored energy — which it will need to be to meet its stated round-trip efficiency of over 50% — when it provides its maximum electrical power output of 5 kilowatts it will also produce around 3.5 kilowatts of heat.  This is around the output of two room space heaters at full power.  However, as a lot of the heat is likely to be carried away by evaporating water, its apparent heat output should be considerably less. 

The heat and water vapour output should be taken into consideration when deciding where to locate it.

It’s Not Loud

LAVO says it produces under 45 decibels of noise.  That means it should make about as much noise as a fridge when it’s running. 

If you’re wondering what noise you should make when you say the word LAVO it’s Lah-vwah, since it’s named after Lavoisier.  But if that seems a bit pretentious, you could just call it what the people from the actual company do, which is La-voh.  This includes a French guy.

Outdoor Installation

The LESS is made for outdoor installation.  Presumably, this is to prevent any possibility of leaking hydrogen¹ building up near ceilings and giving tall smokers a surprise.  Outdoors any leaks should rapidly dissipate, as hydrogen is lighter than air.²

The system is large at 168 cm high, 124 cm across, and 40 cm deep.  The space required is greater than that as it needs at least 50 cm clearance on either side and 35 cm clearance above.  It also has to be located away from where it could be hit by a vehicle. 

Its Ingress Protection Rating is IP54 and this should provide protection against rain, but don’t spray it with a hose to clean it off.  I would want it in a reasonably sheltered location out of the sun. 

Its total installed weight is 324 kg, so no one is likely to pick it up and stroll away with it.³  

Installation Cost Is Unknown

There is no mention anywhere on the LAVO site that the $34,750 price covers installation.  As this can involve the laying of a concrete slab to support its weight and requires an electrical and a plumbing connection, the additional cost could be considerable and may come to thousands of dollars. 

Yearly Professional Maintenance

LAVO says yearly professional maintenance will either be required or recommended.  This could be a significant additional cost and over a decade could come to thousands of dollars. 

A 10 Year Warranty

The LAVO Energy Storage System will have a 10 year warranty.  No details are available as the document hasn’t been created yet.  We don’t know if there are any limitations on use, if yearly servicing will be part of the warranty conditions, or how much capacity deterioration — if any — it will allow.  

They Unwittingly Gave It A 30 Year Warranty

While they say its warranty is for 10 years, LAVO has unwittingly given their system a 30 year warranty by stating that it has a lifetime of 30 years:

I’m no lawyer, but my understanding is if you tell customers a product has a lifespan of 30 years then you have to goddamned make sure it lasts 30 years and are on the hook for providing repairs, replacements or refunds for that length of time.  According to Australian Consumer Guarantees, products must…

So if I was a customer I’d be saving copies of all of LAVO’s promotional material where they say or suggest it will last longer than the 10 years its warranty promises to show in small claims court or before a consumer tribunal. And if I was LAVO I’d be changing that information pretty damn quick.   

Stored Hydrogen Is Mostly Harmless

When fully charged the LAVO Energy Storage System will store enough hydrogen to provide 40 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy.  This represents around 57 kilowatt-hours of heat energy if it were to catch fire or explode.  This is the energy content of six litres of petrol, which is more than enough to start an out of control fire. 

But if the system is properly designed and manufactured, which I’m sure it will be, the danger is minimal.  Many of us regularly drive around in vehicles that often have over 50 litres of petrol or diesel in them.  We’re fine with this because safety precautions minimize the risk.  Hydrogen stored in a LAVO system should be safer than petrol stored in a fuel tank because it is held in a metal hydride that will slow its release if the storage units are punctured. 

Using metal hydrides to store hydrogen is something that has been done for a long time and is a proven technology.  This very old video shows a guy shooting hydrogen hydride cylinder with a rifle:

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The cylinder does not explode when shot.  It does leak hydrogen and there is flame but it’s hard to see in the video until it is used to set a piece of paper on fire⁴. The difficulty of seeing hydrogen flames is a danger, so if your hydrogen storage system somehow becomes damaged, please don’t touch it.   

If hydrogen leaks without catching on fire then, provided the system is outside, it will harmlessly rise into the atmosphere.  There should only be a risk of an explosion if the hydrogen can get trapped under something and build up.  

When charging at full power, it will produce around 1,150 litres of oxygen per hour which is released into the air.  A high concentration of oxygen increases fire risk but, as this is less than one-third of a litre per second and should rapidly disperse, I assume there’s not much risk of it contributing to a fire. 

LAVO Says Batteries Have Short Lifespan

The LAVO site says batteries have a relatively short lifespan and gives a figure of under 5 years:

This is an odd statement because modern batteries used for home energy storage usually have a 10-year warranty.  The same length as the LAVO Energy Storage System’s warranty. 

It Contains A 5 Kilowatt-Hour Battery

The LAVO Energy Storage System contains a 5 kilowatt-hour lithium battery.  Because the fuel cell is slow to react and takes time to warm up, the lithium battery provides a quick response.  This means the LESS isn’t a hydrogen energy storage system, it’s a combined hydrogen fuel cell and lithium battery storage system.  So there’s more to the LESS than meets the eye. 

While they don’t have a good opinion of the lifespan of batteries, LAVO says they expect their battery to last 10-15 years:

If asked, they may claim this is because their battery won’t be used so much.

Presumably, the 5 kilowatt-hour battery means the system only stores enough hydrogen to provide around 35 kilowatt-hours of electricity.  But because LAVO says, or at least strongly implies, that it has 40 kilowatt-hours of hydrogen storage I’ve used that figure in this article.⁵

While storing hydrogen should not be dangerous, both the lithium battery and the hydrogen fuel cell contain flammable⁶ plastic that could potentially release more thermal energy if it caught on fire than the stored hydrogen.  This is unlikely to occur, but does mean using hydrogen doesn’t give the LESS an intrinsic safety advantage over a lithium battery system. 

Its Efficiency Is Low

A lithium battery connected to a hybrid inverter can have an overall efficiency of 90% or higher.  Due to losses from the hybrid inverter, the overall efficiency of the LAVO Energy Storage System may be under 50%.  A 90% efficient battery system will require 1.11 kilowatt-hours to provide one kilowatt-hour stored energy while a 50% efficient LAVO system will need 2 kilowatt-hours.  This low efficiency is a major problem.

If a home has a 90% efficient battery system while another has a 50% efficient LESS and they share these characteristics:

• They fully charge their energy storage with solar energy every day.
• They use 10 kilowatt-hours of storage every night.
• Their solar feed-in tariff is 10 cents.

Over 10 years the home with the LESS would receive $3,250 less solar feed-in tariff.  So installing a LESS means less money off your electricity bills.

LAVO Energy Storage Requires A Lot Of Solar

In reality, it will be difficult for many homes to keep a LESS fully charged unless they have a very large solar power system.  In Sydney, a 6.6 kilowatt north-facing solar system will only generate an average of 16.9 kilowatt-hours a day during May.  If the home used 10 kilowatt-hours at night and zero kilowatt-hours during the day, allowing all the solar energy produced to charge the LESS, it would not be able to store enough energy to meet night-time energy use.  Even if it started the month fully charged, its buffer of extra stored energy would be gone within three weeks. 

As every normal home uses some electricity during the day the actual situation would be worse than this. 

It’s Worse For The Environment Than Batteries

The more solar energy homes and businesses export the more fossil fuel based electricity generation is reduced.  Because low efficiency will decrease the amount of clean solar energy a home can export, the LESS is a worse choice for the environment than a lithium or other battery when exporting to the grid is an option.  For homes that are off-grid or zero export limited this is less of an issue. 

It’s Expensive

The LAVO Energy Storage System costs $34,750.  Additional costs may include:

• A hybrid inverter.
• Installation.
• Annual maintenance.
• Reduced feed-in tariff.

Even without additional costs, it’s not cheap.  For the price of one LESS you could buy nearly 3 Tesla Powerwall batteries, which would have the same total amount of storage, could provide 3 times as much power and with no need for a hybrid inverter, plumbing, or annual maintenance. 

Alternatively, Tesla Australia says that for $71,800 you can buy a Model 3 electric car with 75 kilowatt-hours of energy storage.  That’s almost twice the energy storage of a LESS for just over twice the price, with the advantage that you can drive it around.  While it’s not a direct comparison because you can’t easily take electrical power out of a Tesla car, it is an interesting alternative for what you can do with your money. 

A more direct comparison would be to purchase lithium batteries that can also be used with a hybrid inverter.  The cost of the LAVO Energy Storage System is enough to buy around 50 kilowatt-hours of these from BYD or another manufacturer.  These would have roughly 40 kilowatt-hours of usable capacity.  Their efficiency would be far higher and they could provide more power, so long as the inverter can handle it.  Provided they are decent quality batteries the warranty should be around the same length when used for home storage.    

If you can wait until September 2022 the price of a LESS will be reduced by 15% to $29,450 but I don’t see this as being enough to make it competitive.  

Capacity Should Deteriorate Slowly — If At All

Lithium battery capacity deteriorates with use and over time and some major manufacturers’ warranties only promise they will retain a minimum of 60% of their original capacity after 10 years of typical household use.  While I expect the capacity of the 5 kilowatt-hour lithium battery in the LAVO Energy Storage System to deteriorate, the hydrogen storage may have no measurable capacity deterioration over its 10 year warranty period.  Also, the fuel cell may have no noticeable deterioration in power or efficiency over that time. 

It remains to be seen if this will be the case.  It is possible for fuel cells to be damaged by contaminants but, as I’ve mentioned, LAVO’s technology is impressive and it’s possible that — when it’s available — its warranty may promise no capacity deterioration.

Stocks Are Limited

LAVO says only 2,500 units will be available from June 2021 until September 2022.  They will then produce 5,000 units in the following 12 months, and 10,000 the year after that.  Obviously, they have big plans. 

If you want to reserve one of the first 2,500 you can go to the LAVO site and put down a fully refundable $250 deposit.  In return for letting them hold your money, you will receive absolutely nothing.  This is clearly stated in the terms and conditions:

So if you provide LAVO with a deposit to create an obligation for them to supply you with an energy storage system in the future they say they will have no obligation to do so.  This is clearly nuts and obviously not what LAVO intends, so they need to fix this. 

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Competition Will Be Stiff In Australia

Because of its high cost and low efficiency, I think the LESS will have a hard time competing with residential battery storage and this will be the case even if its capacity deterioration is insignificant. 

But there could be situations hydrogen energy storage systems are well suited for⁷.  Because fuel cells create a lot of heat due to their relatively low efficiency they can be used to heat water, which could be useful for heating swimming pools.  Hospitals also have large water heating requirements and require a supply of oxygen.  Currently, the LAVO Energy Storage System releases the oxygen it creates into the air, but it would be possible to capture it for hospital use.  There are also industries that require a supply of oxygen and/or hydrogen.

Fuel cells can also be used for home heating and this would obviously be more useful in colder countries.  While the LESS isn’t currently capable of heating water or homes at the moment, LAVO may have plans to make models able to do this in the future.⁸  They may even intend to make most of their future sales overseas to places such as Europe, Canada, and the United States — provided that country’s still around.⁹  So while it may not sell well here, we can cross our fingers and hope it will be a good little export earner.

If you like the idea of hydrogen storage and making a financial return on energy storage isn’t your primary motivation, then the LAVO Energy Storage System is for you.  Put $250 down to pre-order one and receive no obligation at all in return.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/lavo-hydrogen-battery-review/