On October 13, the National Television (LTV) morning program “Rīta Panorāma” (Morning Panorama) showed a story about an AI-based hydrogen production tool developed by Latvian scientists from ISSP UL and University of Life Sciences and Technologies and partners from Romania, Spain, and Germany.
Hydrogen could play a significant role as an energy carrier in industry and future road transport. At present, the process of hydrogen production is quite expensive. Now, researchers are working to make it cheaper.
Not only electric cars but also hydrogen-powered vehicles can be used to cover longer distances. The market uptake of hydrogen vehicles is currently hampered by the high cost of producing this form of energy.
Pēteris Lesničenoks, ISSP UL’s Laboratory of Materials for Energy Harvesting and Storage researcher, explains: "To produce hydrogen from natural gas is currently expensive. In some chemical industries, hydrogen is a by-product, where it is not really priced. If expensive electricity is used, the produced hydrogen is very expensive."
Latvian scientists are working with partners from Romania, Spain and Germany to solve this problem. The task is to find a solution to produce hydrogen using green energy, that is, one obtained from the sun or the wind. This way, they plan to ensure that hydrogen production takes place when electricity is cheapest - by predicting sunny and windy days and suggesting when and what processes are best for the production facility.
