Looking for a hydrogen power unit? Before you commit to hydrogen, it's worth knowing why Volta Energy chose a different route: a methanol fuel cell instead. This different technology option delivers the same promise, clean, quiet, emission-free backup power, without the storage and infrastructure challenges that come with hydrogen.
Although hydrogen is often seen as the sustainable fuel of the future, there are real drawbacks to using it on site: it's difficult to store safely, needs heavy infrastructure like high-pressure tanks and fencing, and carries explosion risk. For a power system that needs to move between locations and set up quickly, that's a hard trade-off.
Methanol solves the same problem more practically. It's liquid at room temperature, has a high energy density, and can be stored and refuelled safely without specialised infrastructure. It can also be produced sustainably from biogenic CO₂ and green hydrogen, so the sustainability case holds up. That's why our fuel cell backup runs on methanol rather than hydrogen gas directly.
First, our system generates electricity from solar panels. Any spare energy is stored in a battery for use at night or during peak demand. When solar and battery aren't enough, on their own, a methanol fuel cell activates as backup. The fuel cell converts methanol into electricity electrochemically, without combustion, which means no nitrogen oxides (NOx) and no particulate matter, and a significant reduction in CO₂ compared to a diesel generator.
Choosing a methanol fuel cell over a hydrogen setup or a diesel generator brings a few concrete advantages:
We don't just deliver the Volta. Every rental comes as a full service: delivery, fuel management, maintenance, and remote monitoring, all included in a fixed all-in-one price. No separate contracts, no surprises, just reliable power exactly where and when you need it.
