Sizing hybrid green hydrogen energy generation and storage systems (HGHES) to enable an increase in renewable penetration for stabilising the grid.

Gazey, Ross Neville

Abstract

A problem that has become apparently growing in the deployment of renewable energy systems is the power grids inability to accept the forecasted growth in renewable energy generation integration. To support forecasted growth in renewable generation integration, it is now recognised that Energy Storage Technologies (EST) must be utilised. Recent advances in Hydrogen Energy Storage Technologies (HEST) have unlocked their potential for use with constrained renewable generation. HEST combines Hydrogen production, storage and end use technologies with renewable generation in either a directly connected configuration, or indirectly via existing power networks. A levelised cost (LC) model has been developed within this thesis to identify the financial competitiveness of the different HEST application scenarios when used with grid constrained renewable energy. Five HEST scenarios have been investigated to demonstrate the most financially competitive configuration and the benefit that the by-product oxygen from renewable electrolysis can have on financial competitiveness. Furthermore, to address the lack in commercial software tools available to size an energy system incorporating HEST with limited data, a deterministic modelling approach has been developed to enable the initial automatic sizing of a hybrid renewable hydrogen energy system (HRHES) for a specified consumer demand. Within this approach, a worst-case scenario from the financial competitiveness analysis has been used to demonstrate that initial sizing of a HRHES can be achieved with only two input data, namely “ the available renewable resource and the load profile. The effect of the electrolyser thermal transients at start-up on the overall quantity of hydrogen produced (and accordingly the energy stored), when operated in conjunction with an intermittent renewable generation source, has also been modelled. Finally, a mass-transfer simulation model has been developed to investigate the suitability of constrained renewable generation in creating hydrogen for a hydrogen refuelling station.

Citation

GAZEY, R.N. 2014. Sizing hybrid green hydrogen energy generation and storage systems (HGHES) to enable an increase in renewable penetration for stabilising the grid. Robert Gordon University, PhD thesis.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Mar 14, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 14, 2014
• Keywords: Hybrid; Renewable; Hydrogen; Energy; Electrolyser; Refuelling; Cascade
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/947
• Contract Date: Mar 14, 2014
• Award Date: Jan 31, 2014