GENERIC SIZING METHODOLOGY FOR REMOTE WIND-HYDROGEN POWER SYSTEMS

摘要

Wind power is experiencing an increasing attention in many countries, and so also in Norway. Norway is one of the best-situated European countries for using wind power, and several large-scale wind farms are given concession. If wind power is combined with other energy sources and/or energy storage systems, wind power may also be a realistic energy source in isolated energy systems. In this work, energy storage in the form of hydrogen is considered. In a wind-hydrogen system hydrogen is produced and stored in periods with excess wind power. In periods with shortage, electricity is produced from the hydrogen in a fuel cell. This enables the system to be able to supply energy to the load even in periods when wind speeds are low or zero, or to utilize the wind power generation above the grid capacity. Hydrogen is a flexible fuel that can be used both for stationary energy supply and as a fuel for transportation. An important challenge in the field of wind-hydrogen systems is the optimization of the component sizes to minimize the production costs, but still achieve a certain security of supply. The goal for this work was to find the combination of the sizes of system components that gives the lowest cost for the system given certain control strategies. An Excel workbook model for optimizing component sizes has been developed. The calculations of total costs were based on the Net Present Value. The Excel Solver has been used as an optimization tool. Four control strategies were chosen for the system: 1) Wind power production dedicated to hydrogen production for filling station for vehicles. 2) Wind power to local load, excess energy to hydrogen loop, production of hydrogen in electrolyser, storage and fuel cell for periods with shortage of wind power. 3) Wind energy production primarily to local electrical load directly or through hydrogen loop with electrolyser storage and fuel cell, excess to hydrogen filling station. 4) Primarily electricity to the grid, wind power exceeding grid capacity to electrolyser for hydrogen production. The Excel workbook model showed to be a good preliminary tool when one is assessing a potential wind power site. It is easy to enter the specific data for the location in the model, and also change them to see the effect on the system performance. The results from the Excel model can give a basis for further calculations on the sizing of the wind-hydrogen system.