[perlgeek]

Once thing that's missing (from both the article here, and for example the whole hydrogen discussion in Germany) is the round-trip efficiency.

Now the author of the article would likely argue that with prices dropping as fast as they do, a 60% efficiency is just a few years delay away from being economically efficient. (A quick search came up with a 68% efficiency for fuel cells and "80% - 95%" for electrolysis, putting the whole thing at 54%-65%)

But I can't help but think we'll come up with something a bit more efficient, because that'll be more viable sooner, and more profitable in the long run.

[pfdietz]

The relevant applications for hydrogen are ones where efficiency doesn't much matter (long term storage, rare event grid backup). What matters is minimizing capital cost, which probably means using combustion turbines, not fuel cells.