H2OME

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A full motel, a dark highway and no power

When a storm closes the road, the motel in the next town fills with people who cannot go anywhere. This page looks at what it takes to keep those rooms usable through an outage.

Hot water is the big one

A motel's largest steady load is usually hot water, from a bank of electric cylinders or a central plant. Then come the room heat pumps, the laundry, the office and reception, the guest Wi-Fi and the outdoor lighting. A 15 kW system can carry a small motel's essentials, but it cannot run every heat pump, the dryers and the cylinders at full tilt together, so the pilot would set priorities.

What it would keep running

  • Hot water cylinders on a rotation
  • Room lighting and fridges
  • Reception, booking system and EFTPOS
  • Guest Wi-Fi
  • Heat pumps on a limited schedule

Choosing what runs first

In a long outage the order matters. Lights, the Wi-Fi, reception, the room fridges and a limited heat schedule keep guests safe and comfortable. Hot water cylinders can be heated in rotation, and laundry can wait until the grid is back. The battery and inverter make the first switch-over instant, so nobody is plunged into the dark in the shower.

For a larger motel or one with a restaurant, a multi-unit setup sized in the pilot would be the honest answer, rather than asking one 15 kW system to do the work of two and leaving guests with cold showers at the worst possible moment of a long, stormy night.

How it works →
The H2OME loop: an electrolyser splits water into hydrogen, the hydrogen is stored in a tank for weeks, a fuel cell turns it into electricity for your home, and the water returns to the loop.

Quiet nights for guests

A generator outside the units keeps everyone awake. The fuel cell has no engine and makes little noise. Hydrogen is stored at 30 bar or less, keeps for weeks and is watched by redundant sensors. Round trip efficiency is 30% or less, so the energy costs more than the grid, but a full house of stranded guests who can shower and sleep is the return.

Questions

Can it run every room's heat pump?

Not usually all at once on a cold night alongside hot water. A small motel's heat pumps can be run in rotation or at a lower setting. A bigger motel may need a larger or multi-unit setup, which the pilot would size honestly.

Is there any noise outside the units?

The fuel cell has no engine, so there is no exhaust or rumble. Fans and pumps make a quiet hum. It would be sited away from the units, in a ventilated enclosure agreed with the owner and installer.

Does it save money in normal times?

No. The round trip is 30% or less, so power from it costs more than straight grid power. It is there for outages, and its value is in keeping rooms rented and guests looked after.

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