Hydrogen Smart-Grids: Smart Metering of Electricity from Hydrogen Fuel Cells

摘要

In the last decade, increasing applications of information technology (IT) within power industry has become a significant reality. As distributed power networks are gaining importance and renewables are getting a bigger ratio within energy production, Smart Grid applications have become essential, especially due to the intermittent nature of renewable energy resources. Smart Grid is a sustainable energy system that measures, checks, and controls the generation, transmission, and consumption of electrical energy in grids on all voltage levels. Smart Grid experts are driving forward the development of effective communication and information technologies for the build-up of intelligent power supply networks. Examples of these are control systems for the realization of virtual power plants, intelligent consumer data acquisition systems, and smart distribution management systems. Fuel cell-based hydrogen electricity, in comparison to other renewable energy sources, is more stable and predictable. Yet hydrogen power and smart-grids have many application points, mainly as means of energy storage. This study claims that hydrogen energy and smart-grids could also engage through an appliance of IT managed metering of hydrogen power production. Smart metering and management of hydrogen fuel cells would enable advanced planning of short-to-mid-term power productions and thus foster use of hydrogen power within distributed networks, as local community or industrial applications.