An integrated system framework for fuel cell-based distributed green energy applications

The environmental pollution and diminishing conventional fuel sources and global warming problems make it more attractive for considering renewables as alternative energy sources, such as solar, wind and micro hydro, etc. Recent advances in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies further facilitate these energy options to supply electrical power to various communities. Hydrogen fuel cell systems coupled with renewable energy sources stand out as a promising solution. This paper presents an integrated system framework for fuel cell-based distributed energy applications. Five components are included in this framework: a physical energy system application, a virtual simulation model, a distributed coordination and control, a human system interface and a database. The integrated system framework provides a means to optimize system design, evaluate its performance and balance supplies and demands in a hydrogen assisted renewable energy application. It can either be applied to a distributed energy node that fulfills a local energy demand or to an energy-network that coordinates distributed energy nodes in a region, such as a hydrogen highway. The proposed system framework has been applied in the first phase of our multi-phases project to investigate and analyze the feasibility and suitability of hydrogen fuel assisted renewable power for a remote community. Through integration with an available renewable energy profile database, the developed system efficiently assists in selecting, integrating, and evaluating different system configurations and various operational scenarios at the application site. The simulation results provide a solid basis for the next phase of our demonstration projects.     

H2 Optimization and Fuel Cells Application on Electrical Distribution System and Its Commercial Viability in Australia

Conventional energy technologies are not environmentally friendly, are not renewable, and also the cost of using fossil and nuclear fuels will go higher and higher (anecdotal evidence suggests that consumers will be paying three times their current bill 5 years from now). Therefore, renewable energy sources will play important roles in electricity generation. This paper highlights the advantages of renewable technologies, like future prospects for the poor population, being environmentally friendly, and also available in abundance. This paper points outs the factors seeking hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology to eradicate environmental disasters. This paper is significant as it looks into optimal utilization of renewable energy sources with major emphasis on H₂ optimization and fuel cells application utilizing cogeneration technology. This paper discusses the multiple hydrogen production pathways from different sources, including renewable and nonrenewable sources, H₂ safety, and also barriers to use of hydrogen energy. This paper recommends different types of quantitative and qualitative methods for optimal energy planning, and different types of fuel cells are also discussed. This paper explains a hybrid system inclusive of renewable energy, with its types and benefits. Finally, this paper concludes that Australia could switch from conventional fossil fuel technology to hybrid energy inclusive of renewable energy.     

Wind energy and the hydrogen economy—review of the technology

The hydrogen economy is an inevitable energy system of the future where the available energy sources (preferably the renewable ones) will be used to generate hydrogen and electricity as energy carriers, which are capable of satisfying all the energy needs of human civilization. The transition to a hydrogen economy may have already begun. This paper presents a review of hydrogen energy technologies, namely technologies for hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and utilization. Possibilities for utilization of wind energy to generate hydrogen are discussed in parallel with possibilities to use hydrogen to enhance wind power competitiveness.     

Life-cycle analysis of greenhouse gas emission and energy efficiency of hydrogen fuel cell scooters

The well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis of energy conservation and greenhouse gas emission of advanced scooters associated with new transportation fuels is studied in the present work. Focus is placed on fuel cell scooter technologies, while the gasoline-powered scooter equipped with an internal combustion engine (ICE) serves as a reference technology. The effect of various pathways of hydrogen production on the well-to-tank (WTT) efficiency for energy is examined. Both near-term and long-term hydrogen production options are explored, such as purification of coke oven gas (COG), steam reforming of natural gas, water electrolysis by generation mix and renewable electricity, and gasification of herbaceous biomass. Then, the WTW efficiency of fuel cell scooters for various hydrogen production options is compared with that of the conventional ICE scooters and electric scooters. Results showed that the fuel cell scooters fueled with COG-based hydrogen could achieve the highest reduction benefits in energy consumption and GHG emission. Finally, the potential for hydrogen production from COG resulting from the coking process in steelworks is evaluated, which is anticipated as a near-term hydrogen production for helping transition to a hydrogen energy economy in Taiwan.     

A global survey of hydrogen energy research,development and policy

Several factors have led to growing interest in a hydrogen energy economy, especially for transportation. A successful transition to a major role for hydrogen will require much greater cost-effectiveness, fueling infrastructure, consumer acceptance, and a strategy for its basis in renewable energy feedstocks. Despite modest attention to the need for a sustainable hydrogen energy system in several countries, in most cases in the short to mid term hydrogen will be produced from fossil fuels. This paper surveys the global status of hydrogen energy research and development (R&D) and public policy, along with the likely energy mix for making it. The current state of hydrogen energy R&D among auto, energy and fuel-cell companies is also briefly reviewed. Just two major auto companies and two nations have specific targets and timetables for hydrogen fuel cells or vehicle production, although the EU also has an aggressive, less specific strategy. Iceland and Brazil are the only nations where renewable energy feedstocks are envisioned as the major or sole future source of hydrogen. None of these plans, however, are very certain. Thus, serious questions about the sustainability of a hydrogen economy can be raised.     

UNIDO-ICHET support to hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in Turkey

The International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET) has been implementing measures to demonstrate potential benefits of “hydrogen and fuel cell systems” in developing countries. ICHET is a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) project funded by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. To achieve its mission, ICHET implements pilot demonstration projects, provides applied research and development funding, and organizes workshops, education and training activities. Long term objective of the centre are to show implementation of hydrogen energy technologies with renewable energy systems and encourage local industries to manufacture similar systems for commercial applications. Support has been provided to select industrial partners in Turkey for developing prototypes including a fuel cell forklift, a fuel cell boat, a fuel cell passenger cart, renewable energy systems integrated mobile house, fuel cell based Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) installations. As more and more systems are demonstrated, public awareness of applications of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies will increase. ICHET has polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell testing capabilities together with analytical equipment to conduct fuel cell, hydrogen production and storage research. These facilities are being used for educational purposes with hundreds of engineers trained to date.     

Optimization of the photovoltaic-hydrogen supply system of a stand-alone remote-telecom application

Hydrogen is considered as the optimal carrier for the surplus energy storage from renewable resources. Although hydrogen and its application in fuel cell is considered as a high-cost energy system, some cost-efficient solutions have been found for their use in stand-alone applications, which usually depend on the variability of renewable sources that have to be oversized in order to reduce their dependence on external energy sources. This paper shows the results from the simulation of several alternatives of introducing hydrogen technologies to increase the independence of a remote-telecom application fed by photovoltaic panels. Hydrogen is obtained by electrolysis and it is used in a fuel cell when the renewable energy source is not enough to maintain the stand-alone application. TRNSYS simulation environment has been used for evaluating the proposed alternatives. The results show that the best configuration option is that considering the use of hydrogen as a way to storage the surplus of radiation and the management system can vary the number of photovoltaic panels assigned to feed the hydrogen generation, the batteries or the telecom application.     

Advancements and current technologies on hydrogen fuel cell applications for marine vehicles

Maritime industry has led renewable energy sources for the greener environment and efficient vehicles that effect by increasing population and energy demands. Hydrogen is one of the most popular of these renewable energy sources and one of the most favourable research area, worldwide. In this study, authors reported the usage of hydrogen fuel cells in marine transport as main power forwarder, their advantages and challenges under the lights on state of art and furthermore new technologies perspective. The latest research activities, hydrogen production and storage methods with challenges are analyzed and the developments of fuel cell based marine vehicles are discussed. In detailed, newly approachment of electrolyses from seawater for sustainable fuel necessity is discussed. As a result, this forseen study is important in terms of handling energy from seawater and compiling the latest technology for marine transport.     

Review on recent optimization strategies for hybrid renewable energy system with hydrogen technologies: State of the art,trends and future directions

The world is currently facing a power shortage due to the inadequacy of conventional energy sources and increased energy requirements in almost all sectors of human life. To mitigate this issue, the researchers have taken the considerable interest of researchers over the past decade in enhancing energy efficiency and viability. A hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) can efficiently produce clean energy to meet energy demand. Thus, it is extensively employed to improve power system quality, reliability, and economy, rather than solely relying on non-renewable energy sources. Nevertheless, RE sources' uncertain and intermittent nature, like wind speed and solar radiation, is associated with HRES. This problem can be solved with proper optimization by coupling HRES with energy conversion and storage devices, e.g., electrolyzer, fuel cell, and hydrogen tank, which can admirably balance power generation and energy demand. The literature is rich in employing optimization techniques on HRES with hydrogen technologies (HRES-H₂). However, a gap is found in the overall research progress of optimization approaches, considering HRES coupled with H₂ equipment. Therefore, the current study comprehensively reviews all the optimization approaches applied in this field worldwide. Further, a text mining-based software VOSviewer is used to investigate the scientific landscape of the literature body to figure out the current trends and future scope of HRES-H₂. It has been investigated that the researchers are focusing on: techno-economic optimization of HRES-H₂, developing sophisticated hydrogen infrastructure to reduce the overall cost of hydrogen fuel, introducing AI-based multi-objective optimization techniques to make the HRES-H₂ system more reliable and economically viable, and the impact of renewable and hydrogen technologies on the reduction of global warming. Lastly, an insightful of the current review highlighting the present shortcomings and opportunities of clean energy and hydrogen has been discussed, and suggestions are provided.     

An integrated approach to hydrogen economy in Sicilian islands

CNR–ITAE is developing several hydrogen and fuel cell demonstration and research projects, each intended to be part of a larger strategy for hydrogen communities settling in small Sicilian islands. These projects involve vehicle design, hydrogen production from renewable energy sources and methane, as well as implementation strategies to develop a hydrogen and renewable energy economy. These zero emission lightweight vehicles feature regenerative braking and advanced power electronics to increase efficiency. Moreover, to achieve a very easy-to-use technology, a very simple interface between driver and the system is under development, including fault-recovery strategies and GPS positioning for car-rental fleets. Also marine applications have been included, with tests on PEFC applied on passenger ships and luxury yacht as power system for on-board loads. In marine application, it is under study also an electrolysis hydrogen generator system using seawater as hydrogen carrier. For stationary and automotive applications, the project includes a hydrogen refuelling station powered by renewable energy (wind or/and solar) and test on fuel processors fed with methane, in order to make the power generation self-sufficient, as well as to test the technology and increase public awareness toward clean energy sources.     

Life cycle cost analysis: A case study of hydrogen energy application on the Orkney Islands

Hydrogen can compensate for the intermittent nature of some renewable energy sources and encompass the options of supplying renewables to offset the use of fossil fuels. The integrating of hydrogen application into the energy system will change the current energy market. Therefore, this paper deploys the life cycle cost analysis of hydrogen production by polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis and applications for electricity and mobility purposes. The hydrogen production process includes electricity generated from wind turbines, PEM electrolyser, hydrogen compression, storage, and distribution by H₂ truck and tube trailer. The hydrogen application process includes PEM fuel cell stacks generating electricity, a H₂ refuelling station supplying hydrogen, and range extender fuel cell electric vehicles (RE-FCEVs). The cost analysis is conducted from a demonstration project of green hydrogen on a remote archipelago. The methodology of life cycle cost is employed to conduct the cost of hydrogen production and application. Five scenarios are developed to compare the cost of hydrogen applications with the conventional energy sources considering CO₂ emission cost. The comparisons show the cost of using hydrogen for energy purposes is still higher than the cost of using fossil fuels. The largest contributor of the cost is the electricity consumption. In the sensitivity analysis, policy supports such as feed-in tariff (FITs) could bring completive of hydrogen with fossil fuels in current energy market.     

Greenhouse gas emissions reduction by use of wind and solar energies for hydrogen and electricity production: Economic factors

This study addresses economic aspects of introducing renewable technologies in place of fossil fuel ones to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike for traditional fossil fuel technologies, greenhouse gas emissions from renewable technologies are associated mainly with plant construction and the magnitudes are significantly lower. The prospects are shown to be good for producing the environmentally clean fuel hydrogen via water electrolysis driven by renewable energy sources. Nonetheless, the cost of wind- and solar-based electricity is still higher than that of electricity generated in a natural gas power plant. With present costs of wind and solar electricity, it is shown that, when electricity from renewable sources replaces electricity from natural gas, the cost of greenhouse gas emissions abatement is about four times less than if hydrogen from renewable sources replaces hydrogen produced from natural gas. When renewable-based hydrogen is used in a fuel cell vehicle instead of gasoline in a IC engine vehicle, the cost of greenhouse gas emissions reduction approaches the same value as for renewable-based electricity only if the fuel cell vehicle efficiency exceeds significantly (i.e., by about two times) that of an internal combustion vehicle. It is also shown that when 6000 wind turbines (Kenetech KVS-33) with a capacity of 350 kW and a capacity factor of 24% replace a 500-MW gas-fired power plant with an efficiency of 40%, annual greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 2.3 megatons. The incremental additional annual cost is about $280 million (US). The results provide a useful approach to an optimal strategy for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation.     

Hydrogen electrolyser technologies and their modelling for sustainable energy production: A comprehensive review and suggestions

The advancement of hydrogen technology is driven by factors such as climate change, population growth, and the depletion of fossil fuels. Rather than focusing on the controversy surrounding the environmental friendliness of hydrogen production, the primary goal of the hydrogen economy is to introduce hydrogen as an energy carrier alongside electricity. Water electrolysis is currently gaining popularity because of the rising demand for environmentally friendly hydrogen production. Water electrolysis provides a sustainable, eco-friendly, and high-purity technique to produce hydrogen. Hydrogen and oxygen produced by water electrolysis can be used directly for fuel cells and industrial purposes. The review is urgently needed to provide a comprehensive analysis of the current state of water electrolysis technology and its modelling using renewable energy sources. While individual methods have been well documented, there has not been a thorough investigation of these technologies. With the rising demand for environmentally friendly hydrogen production, the review will provide insights into the challenges and issues with electrolysis techniques, capital cost, water consumption, rare material utilization, electrolysis efficiency, environmental impact, and storage and security implications. The objective is to identify current control methods for efficiency improvement that can reduce costs, ensure demand, increase lifetime, and improve performance in a low-carbon energy system that can contribute to the provision of power, heat, industry, transportation, and energy storage. Issues and challenges with electrolysis techniques, capital cost, water consumption, rare material utilization, electrolysis efficiency, environmental impact, and storage and security implications have been discussed and analysed. The primary objective is to explicitly outline the present state of electrolysis technology and to provide a critical analysis of the modelling research that had been published in recent literatures. The outcome that emerges is one of qualified promise: hydrogen is well-established in particular areas, such as forklifts, and broader applications are imminent. This evaluation will bring more research improvements and a road map to aid in the commercialization of the water electrolyser for hydrogen production. All the insights revealed in this study will hopefully result in enhanced efforts in the direction of the development of advanced hydrogen electrolyser technologies towards clean, sustainable, and green energy.     

Renewable energy in India: Current status and future potentials

Renewable energy sources and technologies have potential to provide solutions to the long-standing energy problems being faced by the developing countries. The renewable energy sources like wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy, biomass energy and fuel cell technology can be used to overcome energy shortage in India. To meet the energy requirement for such a fast growing economy, India will require an assured supply of 3–4 times more energy than the total energy consumed today. The renewable energy is one of the options to meet this requirement. Today, renewable account for about 33% of India's primary energy consumptions. India is increasingly adopting responsible renewable energy techniques and taking positive steps towards carbon emissions, cleaning the air and ensuring a more sustainable future. In India, from the last two and half decades there has been a vigorous pursuit of activities relating to research, development, demonstration, production and application of a variety of renewable energy technologies for use in different sectors. In this paper, efforts have been made to summarize the availability, current status, major achievements and future potentials of renewable energy options in India. This paper also assesses specific policy interventions for overcoming the barriers and enhancing deployment of renewables for the future.     

Study of hybrid energy system coupling fuel cell,solar thermal system and photovoltaic cell

The present work examines the combination of solar energy systems with Fuel cell. Indeed, fuel cells are green storage systems without any pollution effects. They are supplied by oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity. That is why it is inescapable to find a source of hydrogen in order to use fuel cell. Several techniques can be adopted to produce hydrogen depending on the availability and the cost of the sources. One of the most utilized techniques is electrolysers. They allow to obtain hydrogen from water by several technologies among them proton exchange membrane (PEM) which is considered in this work. On the other hand, electrolysers need electrical power to operate. A green-green energy system can be constructed by using a renewable energy source to supply fuel cell trough electrolysers. A comparison between two solar systems (Photovoltaic and Parabolic Trough) coupled to fuel cell is performed. A case study on the Lebanese city of Tripoli is carried out. The study shows the performance of each of both combined systems for different parameters and proposes recommendations depending on the considered configuration.     

Real-time energy management in an off-grid smart home: Flexible demand side control with electric vehicle and green hydrogen production

A real-time energy management system for an off-grid smart home is presented in this paper. The primary energy sources for the system are wind turbine and photovoltaics, with a fuel cell serving as a supporting energy source. Surplus power is used to generate hydrogen through an electrolyzer. Data on renewable energy and load demand is gathered from a real smart home located in the Yildiz Technical University Smart Home Laboratory. The aim of the study is to reduce hydrogen consumption and effectively utilize surplus renewable energy by managing controllable loads with fuzzy logic controller, all while maintaining the user's comfort level. Load shifting and tuning are used to increase the demand supplied by renewable energy sources by 10.8% and 13.65% from wind turbines and photovoltaics, respectively. As a result, annual hydrogen consumption is reduced by 7.03%, and the average annual efficiency of the fuel cell increases by 4.6%     

A mobile off-grid platform powered with photovoltaic/wind/battery/fuel cell hybrid power systems

Cross utilization of photovoltaic/wind/battery/fuel cell hybrid-power-system has been demonstrated to power an off-grid mobile living space. This concept shows that different renewable energy sources can be used simultaneously to power off-grid applications together with battery and hydrogen energy storage options. Photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy are used as primary sources and a fuel cell is used as backup power. A total of 2.7 kW energy production (wind and PV panels) along with 1.2 kW fuel cell power is supported with 17.2 kWh battery and 15 kWh hydrogen storage capacities. Supply/demand scenarios are prepared based on wind and solar data for Istanbul. Primary energy sources supply load and charge batteries. When there is energy excess, it is used to electrolyse water for hydrogen production, which in turn can either be used to power fuel cells or burnt as fuel by the hydrogen cooker. Power-to-gas and gas-to-power schemes are effectively utilized and shown in this study. Power demand by the installed equipment is supplied by batteries if no renewable energy is available. If there is high demand beyond battery capacity, fuel cell supplies energy in parallel. Automatic and manual controllable hydraulic systems are designed and installed to increase the photovoltaic efficiency by vertical axis control, to lift up & down wind turbine and to prevent vibrations on vehicle. Automatic control, data acquisition, monitoring, telemetry hardware and software are established. In order to increase public awareness of renewable energy sources and its applications, system has been demonstrated in various exhibitions, conferences, energy forums, universities, governmental and nongovernmental organizations in Turkey, Austria, United Arab Emirates and Romania.     

How the hydrogen production from RES could change energy and fuel markets: A review of recent literature

The goal that the international community has set itself is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the short/medium-term, especially in Europe that committed itself to reducing GHG emissions to 80–95% below 1990 levels by 2050. Renewable energies play a fundamental role in achieving this objective. In this context, the policies of the main industrialized countries of the world are being oriented towards increasing the shares of electricity produced from renewable energy sources (RES).In recent years, the production of renewable energy has increased considerably, but given the availability of these sources, there is a mismatch between production and demand. This raises some issues as balancing the electricity grid and, in particular, the use of surplus energy, as well as the need to strengthen the electricity network.Among the various new solutions that are being evaluated, there are: the accumulation in batteries, the use of compressed air energy storage (CAES) and the production of hydrogen that appears to be the most suitable to associate with the water storage (pumped hydro). Concerning hydrogen, a recent study highlights that the efficiencies of hydrogen storage technologies are lower compared to advanced lead acid batteries on a DC-to-DC basis, but “in contrast […] the cost of hydrogen storage is competitive with batteries and could be competitive with CAES and pumped hydro in locations that are not favourable for these technologies” (Moliner et al., 2016) [1].This shows that, once the optimal efficiency rate is reached, the technologies concerning the production of hydrogen from renewable sources will be a viable and competitive solution. But, what will be the impact on the energy and fuel markets? The production of hydrogen through electrolysis will certainly have an important economic impact, especially in the transport sector, leading to the creation of a new market and a new supply chain that will change the physiognomy of the entire energy market.     

Toward a clean energy economy: With discussion on role of hydrogen sectors

This study analyzes how advances in clean energy production technology have facilitated related economic development and intensified competition between clean energy sources and fossil fuels. A forecasting model, the Taiwan general equilibrium model–Clean Energy (TAIGEM-CE), is adopted to elucidate the role of wind, solar, tidal current, geothermal, algal biodiesel, biohydrogen, hydrogen fuel cell, biodiesel and bioethanol. Baseline results indicate that biohydrogen, hydrogen fuel cell, biofuels and wind perform satisfactorily when external support is unavailable. Additionally, strong governmental investment in clean energies significantly contributes to development of biodiesel, wind, biohydrogen and hydrogen fuel cell sectors. Results of this study provide feasible means of allocating resources to achieve a smooth transition to a clean energy economy, in which biohydrogen and fuel cell will play a prominent role.     

Efficient hydrogen production for industry and electricity storage via high-temperature electrolysis

The paper describes the development status of Sunfire's reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC) technology. Here, Sunfire is a pioneer in the field of high-temperature electrolysers (HTE) for renewable hydrogen production which can be operated as a fuel cell for power generation in a reverse mode. The maturity of the technology is improved stepwise so that first applications in the field of hydrogen production for industry and electricity storage can be tackled. Three application examples where larger scale prototype has been installed will be discussed: 1) A power-to-power electricity storage based on hydrogen, 2) a RSOC unit that is installed in an iron and steel works, and 3) a pressurized SOEC prototype which will be integrated with a methanation unit. Results show the potentials of the technology in connection with fluctuating renewable energy sources.