Hydrogen: Examining the Pros and Cons of its use for Energy Storage

Event Title: Hydrogen: Examining the Pros and Cons of its use for Energy Storage in Canada

Date: Thursday, May 7

Time: 5:30 PM - 7 PM

Location: Harbour Centre Room 2270, SFU Vancouver

*This is a hybrid event. To access the zoom link, please register with us under Online Admission.

About the Event:

The event will be discussing the following papers:

How actors shape architectures in the emergence of complementary innovation ecosystems by Anurag Wasnik- The case of green hydrogen in the clean energy transition: Economic transitions, such as the clean energy transition, require the coordination of multiple interconnected innovation ecosystems. Although such innovation ecosystems, which we refer to as complementary innovation ecosystems, generate value independently, they create greater collective value when working together in concert. Yet, there has been limited empirical research on the emergence of complementary innovation ecosystems. For the involved actors to create and capture value, it requires an understanding of how the different ecosystem architectures and technical architectures evolve. Focusing on the clean energy transition, we investigate the evolution of these architectures by analyzing actors’ ecosystem roles and value chain positions during the emergence of the green hydrogen ecosystem and its linkages to the fuel cell and renewable energy innovation ecosystems. We theorize that complementary innovation ecosystems co-evolve through shared actors, user bases and resources, as well as through shared technological modularity and technological complementarity. In this context, for-profit actors often begin by engaging in direct value creation roles in a focal innovation ecosystem, which enables them to acquire essential knowledge about the technical architecture of different value chain steps.

Over time, such engagement enables them to contribute to technological developments in complementary innovation ecosystems and for some of them to assume ecosystem leadership roles, through which they shape the ecosystem architecture. As leaders deepen their involvement, they expand into value chain steps that are considered higher-risk and situated at ecosystemic intersections, thereby reinforcing their influence and supporting the continued co-evolution of technical and ecosystem architectures across complementary innovation ecosystems.

Anurag Wasnik is a third year PhD Candidate at the Beedie School of Business, SFU, and is working with Elicia Maine. Before his PhD, he has extensively worked in the Energy sector as a Strategy Management Consultant at Accenture Strategy in the UAE, helping energy and sustainability clients. He also worked as the Innovation Lead at NITI Aayog, the premier public policy think-tank of Government of India.

Technical challenges and opportunities with hydrogen as an alternative sustainable energy source by Reza Farzam:

Hydrogen has emerged as a promising alternative fuel for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across various industries and energy sectors. Despite its zero-carbon potential, hydrogen storage and utilization present critical technical challenges that must be addressed before large-scale deployment can be realized. Hydrogen is the lightest element and has the highest mass-based energy density, high combustion velocity, and high mass diffusivity. While these properties offer clear advantages for energy applications, they also introduce significant technical challenges related to safety, system design, and operational control. This work focuses on demonstrating the key properties, challenges, and opportunities associated with hydrogen storage and utilization, with attention to differences between stationary and transportation applications. By systematically analyzing hydrogen’s fundamental characteristics, this study provides improved technical insight into its practical use across different energy sectors. These insights support technology developers, policymakers, and economists in forming realistic expectations of hydrogen’s potential role in achieving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

Reza Farzam holds a PhD in Sustainable Energy Engineering from SFU and is currently a postdoctoral researcher with SFU and UBC, collaborating with industrial partners including Hydra Energy and HTEC. With a strong background in thermofluids and mechanical engineering, his research focuses on the development of alternative fuel technologies, particularly hydrogen, as sustainable energy solutions for power generation systems.

A Comprehensive Comparison of Batteries and Green Hydrogen as Primary Energy Storage Solutions for the Future by Fatemah (Dorsa) Kalak

This study presents a comparative data-driven assessment of batteries and green hydrogen as energy storage solutions, evaluated across three key paradigms: technological feasibility, infrastructure requirements, and cost competitiveness. From a technological perspective, hydrogen exhibits a gravimetric energy density nearly two orders of magnitude higher than lithium-ion batteries and enables long-duration energy storage, making it technically suitable for multi-day and seasonal applications. Instead, lithium-ion batteries have high round-trip efficiencies of 80–90%, compared to 45–55% for green hydrogen systems, which makes them highly beneficial for short-term charge and discharge applications.

Infrastructure analysis indicates that hydrogen systems involve greater end-to-end complexity, including production, compression, storage, and transport, while offering scalability advantages through large-volume storage options. Life-cycle greenhouse gas assessments show that, under renewable electricity inputs, emissions for both technologies are dominated by infrastructure-related contributions, with hydrogen emissions being highly sensitive to production pathways and transport distances. Cost analysis reveals that batteries are currently more competitive for residential and short-duration applications, whereas hydrogen systems show increasing competitiveness for transportation and long-duration storage as production, storage, and delivery costs decline toward mid-century. Overall, the results highlight complementary roles for batteries and green hydrogen within future low-carbon energy systems rather than direct technological substitution.

Fatemeh (Dorsa) Kalak is currently a Master of Engineering student at the School of Sustainable Energy Engineering at SFU. With a background in chemical engineering, Dorsa is seeking to build a multi-disciplinary connection between engineering, economics, and policy aspects of clean energy solutions for a green future.

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