Stable hydrogen generation by wind power, grid and battery Rodolfo Dufo-López, Juan M. Lujano-Rojas, José L. Bernal-Agustín, Jesús S. Artal-Sevil, Ángel A. Bayod-Rújula   2024/07/20

Abstract

In this work, we study the stable generation of hydrogen by means of the electrolyzer fed by renewable sources, battery and grid. Due to the intermittent nature of the renewable sources (PV, wind), the hydrogen generation by the electrolyzer cannot be stable during the time except if there is another electricity source to fulfil the difference between the electrolyzer nominal power and the renewable power. The AC electrical grid will supply that difference during hours when the electricity price is low, while the batteries will supply the difference when the electricity price is high. Also, batteries will be charged by the grid when electricity price is low. We compare the performance and economical results with the case of using only the grid for supplying that difference. Considering a hypothetical electricity hourly price with 3% annual inflation, the system with battery has a levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) of 4.25 €/kg with the actual present battery CAPEX (200 €/kWh) while it has a LCOH of 3.95 €/kg if we consider a much lower future battery CAPEX of 20 €/kWh (10 times lower than nowadays). The system without battery has a LCOH of 4.14 €/kg.

Authors and affiliations

Rodolfo Dufo-López, Juan M. Lujano-Rojas, José L. Bernal-Agustín, Jesús S. Artal-Sevil, Ángel A. Bayod-Rújula.

Department of Electrical Engineering. E.I.N.A., Zaragoza University. C/María de Luna, 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain

Key Words

Electrolyzer, hydrogen, renewable, wind, off-grid, daily operation, control strategy, optimization, genetic algorithms.

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