Everyone Knows It's Windy

The party in late May on the tiny, remote Shetland island of Unst, Britain's northernmost inhabited chunk of rock, was a real gas — literally. Islanders bopped to an enthusiastic set of '50s and '60s favorites performed by the Bonxies, perhaps the only rock band powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

The electricity that amplified their guitars and keyboard came from a hybrid wind-into-hydrogen system that is part of the world's first community-owned hydrogen production plant, built on this island of 700 inhabitants. "Despite all the hype around the hydrogen economy, there appeared to be very little to show for it in practice," says Sandy Macaulay, project manager for PURE (Promoting Unst Renewable Energy) and Bonxies lead guitarist. Two 15-kW wind turbines provide cheap and clean electricity to the island's industrial estate. Surplus power goes through hydrogen production and storage equipment, and the zero-carbon gas is bottled for future use. PURE hopes to expand hydrogen's applications beyond powering and heating the small industrial estate and running Scotland's only road-licensed hydrogen car.

Up to five days' worth of power can be stored, says technical director Ross Gazey. Could that run out after five days of no wind? "With weather like we have here," says Gazey, "that's never going to happen."