The Economic Impact and Carbon Footprint Dependence of Energy Management Strategies in Hydrogen-Based Microgrids

This paper presents an economic impact analysis and carbon footprint study of a hydrogen-based microgrid. The economic impact is evaluated with respect to investment costs, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, as well as savings, taking into account two different energy management strategies (EMSs): a hydrogen-based priority strategy and a battery-based priority strategy. The research was carried out in a real microgrid located at the University of Huelva, in southwestern Spain. The results (which can be extrapolated to microgrids with a similar architecture) show that, although both strategies have the same initial investment costs (EUR 52,339.78), at the end of the microgrid lifespan, the hydrogen-based strategy requires higher replacement costs (EUR 74,177.4 vs. 17,537.88) and operation and maintenance costs (EUR 35,254.03 vs. 34,877.08), however, it provides better annual savings (EUR 36,753.05 vs. 36,282.58) and a lower carbon footprint (98.15% vs. 95.73% CO2 savings) than the battery-based strategy. Furthermore, in a scenario where CO2 emission prices are increasing, the hydrogen-based strategy will bring even higher annual cost savings in the coming years.This research was funded by the Spanish Government, grant (1) Ref: PID2020-116616RBC31 and grant (2) Ref: RED2022-134588-T REDGENERA

Thermodynamic modeling of hydrogen refueling for heavy-duty fuel cell buses and comparison with aggregated real data

Abstract The foreseen uptake of hydrogen mobility is a fundamental step towards the decarbonization of the transport sector. Under such premises, both refueling infrastructure and vehicles should be deployed together with improved refueling protocols. Several studies focus on refueling the light-duty vehicles with 10 kgH2 up to 700 bar, however less known effort is reported for refueling heavy-duty vehicles with 30–40 kgH2 at 350 bar. The present study illustrates the application of a lumped model to a fuel cell bus tank-to-tank refueling event, tailored upon the real data acquired in the 3Emotion Project. The evolution of the main refueling quantities, such as pressure, temperature, and mass flow, are predicted dynamically throughout the refueling process, as a function of the operating parameters, within the safety limits imposed by SAE J2601/2 technical standard. The results show to refuel the vehicle tank from half to full capacity with an Average Pressure Ramp Rate (APRR) equal to 0.03 MPa/s are needed about 10 min. Furthermore, it is found that the effect of varying the initial vehicle tank pressure is more significant than changing the ambient temperature on the refueling performances. In conclusion, the analysis of the effect of different APRR, from 0.03 to 0.1 MPa/s, indicate that is possible to safely reduce the duration of half-to-full refueling by 62% increasing the APRR value from 0.03 to 0.08 MPa/s

techno economic analysis of in situ production by electrolysis biomass gasification and delivery systems for hydrogen refuelling stations rome case study

Abstract Starting from the Rome Hydrogen Refuelling Station demand of 65 kg/day, techno-economics of production systems and balance of plant for small scale stations have been analysed. A sensitivity analysis has been done on Levelised Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) in the range of 0 to 400 kg/day, varying capacity factor and availability hours or travel distance for alkaline electrolysers, biomass gasification and hydrogen delivery. As expected, minimum LCOH for electrolyser and gasifier is found at 400 kg/day and 24 h/day, equal to 12.71 €/kg and 5.99 €/kg however, for operating hours over 12 and 10 h/day the differential cost reaches a plateau (below 5%), for electrolyser and gasifier respectively. For the Rome station design, 160 kWe of electrolysers 24 h/day and 100 kWth gasifier at 8 h/day, LCOH (11.85 €/kg) was calculated considering the modification of the cost structure due to the existing equipment, which is convenient respect the use of a single technology, except for 24 h/day gasification

Impact assessment study on societal benefits of Arctic observing systems

The study compares costs and benefits of Arctic observation systems. Ten case studies show that annually economic benefits exceed by at least 50% investments. The analytical framework can be further developed for quantifying societal benefits from local to global scales.JRC.C.5-Air and Climat

Multi-Scale Analysis of Solid Oxide Cells for Energy Applications: Experimental Characterization and System-level Simulation

In questo lavoro vengono analizzati diversi aspetti del SOCs (principalmente modalità SOFC, ma anche in SOEC e Rsoc), attraverso un approccio analitico multi-scala, dalla cellula al sistema. Stando alla scala è possibile analizzare aspetti rappresentativi della tecnologia di uno specifico dominio, con un focus sugli studi sperimentali su scale minori - che è l’elemento di principale innovazione di questo elaborato, l’approccio di modello a cellula singola la performance elettrochimica e la conversione a gas sono studiate con un approccio basato sulla polarizzazione e gascromatografia in diverse condizioni operative. Invece, a livello di short-stack si possono ottenere le mappe di potenza ed efficienza di uscita dei punti di funzionamento stabili in diverse condizioni. Le analisi sperimentali sono state condotte nell'ambito di diversi progetti di ricerca dell'Unione Europea (qSOFC, BLAZE, W2W, SO-FREE), che hanno stabilito i requisiti e i limiti specifici delle campagne sperimentali riportate in questo lavoro. Solo su scala di sistema viene analizzato il sistema rSOC accoppiato alle FER in due diverse applicazioni: nel caso studio 1 viene valutato il sistema rSOC accoppiato a una turbina eolica offshore per l'alimentazione di riserva e la produzione di idrogeno, e nel caso studio 2 viene analizzata l'integrazione di rSOC nei sistemi energetici degli edifici nel settore residenziale, con un'analisi parametrica in base alla tipologia di edificio (appartamento/villa), alla zona climatica e all'anno di riferimento di costruzione del parco edifici. Le analisi di integrazione del sistema si basano su un modello di componenti rSOC che sfrutta i dati sperimentali a livello di stack di uno stack integrato in un prototipo di sistema rSOC commerciale, tipicamente utilizzato come hub energetico intelligente per l'accumulo di energia e soluzioni di poligenerazione, al fine di fornire un output più realistico a livello di sistema che tenga conto delle condizioni operative reali del sistema rSOC e dei processi effettivi che si verificano internamente al sistema, rispetto alla maggior parte degli approcci black-box utilizzati negli studi di modellazione dell'integrazione del sistema.In this work different aspects of SOCs (mostly in SOFC mode but also in SOEC and rSOC modes) are analysed with a multi-scale analysis approach, from cell to system level. According to the scale it is possible to analyse representative aspects of the technology at that specific domain, with focus on experimental studies at smaller scales – which is the main element of novelty of this work, respect to typical theory-driven multi-scale modelling approaches. At button-cell level the SOC physico-chemical processes can be identified and parametrized with impedance-based methods; at single-cell level the electrochemical performance and gas conversion is studied with polarization approaches and gas chromatography analyses in different operating conditions. Instead, at short-stack level the output power and efficiency maps can be obtained of the stable operation points in different conditions. The experimental analyses are carried out in the framework of different EU research projects (qSOFC, BLAZE, W2W, SO-FREE), which set the specific requirements and boundaries of the specific experimental campaigns which are reported in this work. Only at system scale the actual rSOC system is analysed coupled to RES in two different applications: in case study 1 the rSOC system is evaluated coupled to an offshore wind turbine for back-up power and hydrogen production and in case study 2 the rSOC integration in building energy systems in the residential sector is analysed, with parametric analysis according to the building type (apartment/villa), climate zone and reference year of construction of the building stock. The system integration analyses are based on a rSOC component model which leverages the experimental stack-level datasets of a stack which is integrated into an actual commercial rSOC system prototype, typically used as smart energy hub for energy storage and poly-generation solutions, in order to provide a more realistic system level output which takes into account the real operating conditions of the rSOC system as well as the actual processes occurring internally to the system, respect to most black-box approaches used in system integration modelling studies

A model-based parametric and optimal sizing of a battery/hydrogen storage of a real hybrid microgrid supplying a residential load: Towards island operation

In this study the optimal sizing of a hybrid battery/hydrogen Energy Storage System “ESS ”is assessed via a model-based parametric analysis in the context of a real hybrid renewable microgrid located in Huelva, Spain, supplying a realtime monitored residential load (3.5 kW; 5.6 MWh/year) in island mode. Four storage configurations (battery-only, H 2 -only, hybrid battery priority and hybrid H 2 priority) are assessed under different Energy Management Strategies, analysing system performance parameters such as Loss of Load “LL ”(kWh;%), Over Production “OP ”(kWh;%), round-trip storage efficiency ESS (%) and total storage cost ( €) depending on the ESS sizing characteristics. A parallel approach to the storage optimal sizing via both multi-dimensional sensitivity analysis and PSO is carried out, in order to address both sub-optimal and optimal regions, respectively. Results show that a hybridised ESS capacity is beneficial from an energy security and efficiency point of view but can represent a substantial additional total cost (between 100 and 300 k €) to the hybrid energy system, especially for the H 2 ESS which presents higher costs. Reaching 100% supply from renewables is challenging and introducing a LL threshold induces a substantial relaxation of the sizing and cost requirements. Increase in battery capacity is more beneficial for the LL abatement while increasing H 2 capacity is more useful to absorb large quantities of excess energy. The optimal design via PSO technique is complemented to the parametric study

Needs for Climate Observations for Energy Production and Transport

The document summarizes the discussion taking place among panelists during the GCOS workshop on observations for adaptation to climate variability and change - session 9: Needs for Climate observations for energy production and transport.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Four years of operational data for five hydrogen refueling stations

Worldwide about 550 hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) were in operation in 2021, of which 38%. were in Europe. With their number expected to grow even further, the collection and investigation of real-world station operative data are fundamental to tracking their activity in terms of safety issues, performances, costs, maintenance, reliability, and energy use. This paper shows and analyses the parameters that characterize the refueling of 350 bar fuel cell buses in four HRS within the 3Emotion project. The HRS are characterized by different refueling capacities, hydrogen supply schemes, storage volumes and pressures, and operational strategies. From data logs provided by the operators, a dataset of three years of operation has been created. In particular total hydrogen quantity, the fill amount dispensed to each bus, the refueling duration, the average mass flow rate, the number of refueling events and the daily number of refills, the daily profile, the utilization factor, and the availability are investigated. The results show similar hydrogen amount per fill distribution, but quite different refueling times among the stations. The average daily mass per bus is around 12.95 kg, the most frequent value 15 kg, the standard deviation 7.46. About 50% of the total amount of hydrogen is dispensed overnight and the refueling events per bus are typically every 24 hours. Finally, the station utilization is below 30% for all sites

Hydrogen refueling station cost model applied to five real case studies for fuel cell buses

Hydrogen Refueling Stations (HRS) are a key infrastructure to the successful deployment of hydrogen mobility. Their cost-effectiveness will represent an increasingly crucial issue considering the foreseen growth of vehicle fleets, from few captive fleets to large-scale penetration of hydrogen vehicles. In this context a detailed, component-oriented cost model is important to assess HRS costs for different design concepts, layout schemes and possible customizations, respect to aggregate tools which are mostly available in literature. In this work an improved version of a previously developed component-oriented, scale-sensitive HRS cost model is applied to 5 different European HRS developed within the 3Emotion project with different refueling capacities (kgH2/day), hydrogen supply schemes (in-situ production or delivery), storage volumes and pressures and operational strategies. The model output allows to assess the upfront investment cost (CAPEX), the annual operational cost (OPEX) and the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) at the dispenser and identify the most crucial cost components. The results for the five analyzed HRS sites show an LCOH at the nozzle of around 8-9 €/kg for delivery based HRSs, which are mainly dominated by the H2 retail price and transport service price and around 11-12 €/kg for on-site producing HRS, for which the electrolyzer CAPEX and electricity price plays a key role in the cost structure. The compression, storage, and dispensing sections account for between 1-3 €/kg according to the specific design & performance requirements of the HRS. The total LCOH values are comparable with literature, standard market prices for similar scale HRSs and with the 3Emotion project targets