Industries
Power
Molecular energy earns its place in power only where duration is long enough that batteries stop making sense.
How molecular energy affects power
As renewable penetration rises, the residual problem shifts from daily balancing — which batteries handle well and cheaply — to multi-day and seasonal shortfalls, which they do not. Hydrogen and ammonia can store energy at that duration, and can be burned in turbines or co-fired in existing plants for dispatchable output. The round-trip efficiency is poor, so the honest case is narrow: it is about the hours when nothing else works, not about bulk energy supply.
Relevant molecules
What competes
- Batteries, which dominate short-duration balancing on cost
- Pumped hydro and other mechanical storage where geography allows
- Grid interconnection and demand response as alternatives to storage
- Hydrogen or ammonia co-firing versus full conversion of existing plants
Where the commercial opportunities are
Long-duration and seasonal storage, where alternatives genuinely run out
Ammonia co-firing retrofits, particularly in Japan and Korea
Hydrogen-ready turbines and conversion of existing gas capacity
Salt cavern hydrogen storage, the credible route to genuine bulk capacity
Project types we see
Categories of project active across the industry — not a list of MolecularX engagements.
Questions
Is hydrogen a good way to store electricity?
Only at long duration. The round trip from electricity to hydrogen and back loses well over half the input energy, so for daily cycling batteries win decisively on cost. Hydrogen becomes relevant when storage is needed over days, weeks or seasons, where battery capital cost scales unfavourably and chemical storage does not.
Why is ammonia co-firing happening in Asia?
Because Japan and Korea have large, relatively young coal and gas fleets, limited land for renewables, and a policy preference for using existing assets rather than stranding them. Co-firing ammonia reduces the emissions of those plants without replacing them, and it creates large import demand — which is why it matters commercially to exporters.
How we can help
Techno-Economic Analysis
Levelised cost modelling with the assumptions exposed and the sensitivities tested.
Read more →Technology Assessment
Independent, criteria-driven comparison of the technologies competing for your project.
Read more →Strategy
Corporate and molecular-energy strategy built on what the technology can actually do and what the market will actually pay.
Read more →Market Analysis
Who is buying, who is selling, at what price, along which corridors — and where that leaves you.
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Tell us what you provide or what you are trying to build, and we will tell you whether there is something here worth pursuing.