ELECTRONICS AND ENERGY ACCUMULATION LABORATORY

Hydrogen and Renewable Energies

Background

Is the most plentiful element in the universe Is colourless, odourless, insipid, non-toxic and highly inflammable Has the highest energy/weight ratio Is not a source of energy but a form of storage. It is an energetic energetic

vectorvector Its combustion only produces H2O. It is a non-pollutant fuel Does not exist in free form. It needs to be produced:

Fossil fuels Biomass Electrolysis Photoelectrochemistry …..

If it is produced from renewable energiesrenewable energies the cycle has zero-emissions

Hydrogen:

coal

natural gas

bio- mass

nuclear heat

nuclear electric

wind

solar PV hydro

Residential Com-

mercial Tertiary

...

solar ther- mal

H 2

Sources and Uses of Hydrogen

…

Fuel Cell TechnologyFuels and applications

BackgroundHydrogen can be stored in:

Gas state. The low density of H2 means that less energy per unit of volume is stored

Advantage LOW COST AND GREAT DEVELOPMENT AND RELIABILITY

Disadvantage LARGE VOLUMES AND HIGH PRESSURES

Liquid state. Its low boiling point (20K) means cryogenic recipients are required

Advantage HIGH DENSITY AND LESS WEIGHT Disadvantage SAFETY PROBLEMS, HIGH CONSUMPTION

OF ENERGY AND HIGH COST

Solid state (HYDRIDES). H2 reacts with different metals or intermetallic compounds forming HYDRIDES

Advantage MORE STORAGE PER UNIT OF VOLUME, REVERSIBLE REACTION, LOW PRESSURE AND SAFETY

Disadvantage RELATIVELY HIGH WEIGHT

BackgroundThe applications can be:

Stationary. Housing

Transport. Cars Submarines Boats Aeroplanes...

Portable items. PCs Mobile phones, etc.

Isolated system.

Energy accumulation: Integration of the RES in the network.

Source: CENER

Source: MTI Company

Studies have been carried out that analyse the feasibility of the integration of renewable energies with hydrogen

Several demonstration projects have been set up that enable the results of the preliminary studies to be put into practice

Numerous patents have been applied for and accepted

The European Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Platform has been created

Activities in Europe

HH22 filling station for CUTE and Citycell busesfilling station for CUTE and Citycell buses( Madrid, April 28th, 2003 )

H2H2 filling station for filling station for CUTE busesCUTE buses(Barcelona, April 9th, 2003)

Hydrogen development strategie . Road Map.

Cener’s position

1. Increase the penetration of renewable energies into the electricity network.

2. Make the renewable energies similar to conventional sources, which will enable a better management of them by the operator of the electrical system.

3. Reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels and increase the energy and environmental sustainability of the region.

4. Provide innovation for energy storage systems.

Cener’s activity is focused on the application of hydrogen as an energy accumulationenergy accumulation system, with the objective of increasing and improving the penetration of renewable energies in the electrical system. It considers electrolysis from renewable energies (in particular from wind energy) as a production system. Hydrogen produced in this way is what is known as green hydrogen. The use of hydrogen can:

CENER – Government of Navarre, (SPAIN)

Objective: To develop an integrated technological solution in which the hydrogen vector will act as a means for accumulating energy from wind energy in such a way that its re-conversion into electrical energy as required facilitates its integration into the electrical system.

The purpose behind this work consists of advancing and developing an industrial-scale technical solution, which is economically interesting, which could be commercialised within 5 to 10 years.

Studies

Cener’s positionCener has two laboratories for research and experimentation in this field:

Electrochemical Laboratory.

Laboratory for Integrating Hydrogen and Renewable Energies.

Hydrogen Storage

Efficiency of Hydrogen production 75 %

Efficiency of compression 96 %

Efficiency of recover energy systems

Turbines 30-32 % Combustion 44 % Fuel Cells 55 % Hybrid Systems 75- 85 %

• High temperature+ gas turbine Suppliers of Hybrids systems

Siemens, Westinghouse, Fuel Cells Energy+MTU Current power limit 200 KW

Hydrogen costs

Wind Farm scale 50 MW

Total Investment approx. 2,5- 3,0 M€/ MW Fuel cells 4.000 €/KW Hybrid systems 10.000 €/kw

Operational life time 15-20 years

TIR of investment positive>15 years

Peripheral maritime regions

In most cases, peripheral maritime regions have some particularities derived from their situation and/or commercial activities:

Hydrogen, as a means of energy storage, can minimHydrogen, as a means of energy storage, can minimiise or solve se or solve these problems in the next futurethese problems in the next future

1. Weak networks or even disconnection of networks (islands and remote communities)

2. High renewable resources in the sea (offshore wind farms) that require more costly transport networks

3. High seasonal energy consumption (Mediterranean coast) 4. Management of demand in ports

Utsira Project (IEA)Norwegian and German companies (Enercon), Norwegian government

Objectives: To demonstrate an autonomous energy

system To integrate developed, novelty

hydrogen technologies with renewable energies

Demonstration projects

Hydrogen Generation from Stand-Alone Wind-Powered Electrolysis Systems (IEA, Task 11)Energy Research Unit, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK), Casaccia Research Centre (Italy), Institute for Technical Thermodynamics (Germany), Department of Engineering, University of Leicester (UK)

Objectives: To improve the control of the aerogenerator to improve

the quality of the energy To examine the tolerance of an electrolyser in a

fluctuating supply To design and construct a small-scale isolated system

of hydrogen (< 10 kW) To assess the economic costs

Demonstration projects

Cluster Pilot Project for the Integration of RES into European Energy Sectors using Hydrogen (RES2H2) (IEA) Spain, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece and Cyprus

Objectives: Clean production of hydrogen using wind energy To solve the problem of storing excess energy To obtain water from the renewable-H2 system

Demonstration projects

PROIDRI (CNR ITAE-UNICT DIEES, Italy). Objective: Development of integrated systems of renewables

with hydrogen Development of a prototype of the system To improve the characteristics of the electrolysers Study of the losses associated with converters and adaptors

HIDROTEC (Corporación Tecnalia). Objective: Introduction of a demonstration plant with multiple

applications to assess the various options of sustainable energy solutions based on hydrogen

Scenes selected for simulation: Hydrogen filling station for transport Hydrogen storage to increase the availability of high power

wind farms Autonomous isolated systems

Other demonstration projects

Hydrogen and Renewables Integration Project (HaRI)CREST (Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology) at Loughborough University

Objectives: To investigate energy storage methods generated by

renewable sources

Hydrogen Demo Project in UK: PURE-Promoting Unst Renewable EnergyShetland Council

Objectives: To demonstrate the feasibility of systems based on

renewables and hydrogen Sustainable use of energy resources that are found in the

isolated communities

Demonstration projects

AEROPILA, BESEL

Objective: Installation of an isolated system based on renewable energies and hydrogen for stationary and transport applications

Pilot plant (operating since 2004).

Other demonstration projects

RenewIslands Objective: To increase the penetration into the market of new

energy systems combining fuel cell technology, renewable energies and hydrogen in islands and remote regions in Europe and third-world countries.

Tesis NTNU, Norway (C.J. Greiner) Objective: Analysis of the production of hydrogen from wind

energy from an economic and environmental point of view.

Renewable-H2 Objective: To assess the European activities in H2 and

renewables and the bodies involved, to set up interaction with national programmes and H2 networks, to identify opportunities for integrating renewables in the “hydrogen economy” and to assess the possibility of setting up an Excellence Centre.

Studies

Altman M., Richert, F., Hydrogen production at offshore wind farms. Offshore Wind Energy Special Topic Conference, Belgium, Dec 2001.

Making the most of maritime wind resources (North Sea). Offshore platforms for producing hydrogen through the electrolysis of desalinated water.

Eliminate the electrical connections to land. H2 has diverse applications (H2 common industry, fuel, energy

vector).

Studies

Conclusions

Hydrogen is beginning to look like one of the large-scale energy accumulation systems. It will enable us to increase the penetration of renewable energies into the energy market, the quality of the energy and the stabilisation of the network.

If the production of hydrogen is though electrolysis based on renewables, the cycle has zero emissions.

It can serve as a support in the case of regions with a high energy dependence or with weak networks.

In Europe, demonstration projects are being developed with the aim of showing the feasibility of the H2-RES system.

Conclusions

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