Analysis of the Production of Hydrogen from Wind Energy

Workshop on Electrolysis Production of Hydrogen from Wind and Hydropower

September 9, 2003

Scenario 1: electricity sold as a coproduct during on-peak periods

AlkalineElectrolyzer

H2

sell energy during on-peak periods at whole-sale prices

use energy during non-peak periods

e

e

produced during non-peak periods When renewables operate

AlkalineElectrolyzer

H2

use all renewably-produced electricity

e

e

purchase enough energy to baseload electrolyzer

produced 95% of the year

Scenario 2a: hydrogen produced from renewable electricityplus enough grid electricity to baseload electrolyzer

AlkalineElectrolyzer

H2

use all renewably-produced electricty

e

epurchase non-peak energy when renewable isn’t operating

produced during all non-peak hours and on-peak hours when renewables operate

Scenario 2b: hydrogen produced from renewable electricity plus only non-peak grid electricity

AlkalineElectrolyzer

H2

all renewable energy sold to grid

e

produced during all non-peak hours

epurchase non-peak energy

Scenario 3: hydrogen production decoupled from renewables

Base case 1 2a 2b 3

The Potential Payoff

PV

Wind

Critical Questions

• Which are the most likely regions of the U.S. for using wind turbines to generate both electricity and hydrogen, and under what scenarios and time frame are they likely to become economical?

• What is the optimized cost of a wind system that produces both electricity and hydrogen, both today and in the future using advanced technology?

• What are the opportunities for reducing system cost by designing a hybrid wind-hydrogen system specifically for the co-production of electricity and hydrogen?

• What are the areas that research and development in both wind and hydrogen should focus on to have the greatest impacts on cost in the near term and long term?

• When and where?

• $$$?

• Hybrid?

• R&D focus?

Modeling Tools

WinDS and WinDS-H2• When and where? and $$$?

• Purpose: Address principle market issues for wind and wind/H2

• Access to and cost of transmission

• Impact of hydrogen on intermittency

• 358 regions, GIS-supported

• Electricity transmission, H2 storage, H2 fuel

• Future: SMR, hydro, biomass

WindSTORM• $$$? and Hybrid?

• Purpose: optimize interface between wind turbine and H2 components (electrolyzer, fuel cell, energy storage)

• Effect of control strategy on system cost

• H2 used to store electricity or sold as fuel

• Shared power conversion, in-tower compressed gas storage, Ni-H2 ‘battery’

Combined results and sensitivity analyses answer R&D focus

Key People

• Wind and Hydropower Program, Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program, Energy Analysis, GIS

• WindStorm - Controls decision model, Lee Jay Fingersh

• WinDS - Market sector model, Walter Short & Nate Blair

• Data support - Wind Program, HFC&IT Program, Sentech

• Industry review and assistance

Storage & Transport Costs

10

100

1000

10000

100000

0 200 400 600 800 1000

Delivery Distance (km)

Pro

du

ctio

n R

ate

(kg

/h)

Pipeline

Liquid Rail

Liquid Truck

Metal Hydride Truck

Gas Truck

Gas Rail

Identification of the most economical delivery option

1

10

100

1000

10000

0 200 400 600 800 1000

Delivery Distance (km)

Pro

du

cti

on

Ra

te (

kg

/h)

$0-1.2/kg

$1.2-2.5

$2.5-3.7$3.7-4.9

$4.9-6.1

>$6.1Amos, W.A. (1998) Costs of Storing and Transporting Hydrogen. NREL/TP-570-25106. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO.

Schedule

• FY03 - Adapt and expand models, begin generating results

• September - Workshop• October - Status report• FY04

– Test electrolyzer and incorporate data– Continue sensitivity analyses– Specific and generalized locational results– Continue model refinement– Incorporate other H2 production technologies