A sugar cane farm typically has a homestead, a large machinery shed and workshop for harvesters and haulouts, an office with computers and radios, freezers and a cool room, and pumps for irrigation and drainage. During the crush, workshops run long hours fixing machinery. In the wet season, cyclones and heavy rain bring outages that can last days. Most farms already know the cost of losing freezers and comms after a big storm.
Irrigation pumps on a cane farm, and large drainage pumps that move water off paddocks during the wet, are usually far beyond 15 kW. Harvesters and haulouts have their own engines. Powering big pumps from hydrogen at round-trip efficiency of 30% or less is not sensible. The honest fit is the homestead, office, workshop and cold storage, not the irrigation or drainage plant.
How it works →
Hydrogen is made on off-peak power or wind before a storm and stored at 30 bar or less for weeks. When the grid fails, the UPS-mode inverter switches instantly, so office computers and radios keep running. The fuel cell then carries the homestead, freezers and workshop within 15 kW continuous. Air conditioning in the build-up and heavy workshop gear together may exceed that, so the pilot would size it properly.
Generally no. Cane irrigation pumps draw well over 15 kW. The system is designed for the homestead, office, workshop and cold storage. Big pumps would need a different supply, and we would rather say so than size a system that cannot carry them.
It would be installed to suit the site, including cyclone rated housing where needed. The hydrogen store is low pressure, 30 bar or less, with redundant leak sensors and automatic shutdown and venting.
That depends on how much hydrogen is stored and what runs. The store keeps for weeks, so it is full when the storm arrives. Runtime is calculated during the pilot.
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