Modelling of the Utsira WindHydrogen Demonstration System in Norway

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Modelling of the Utsira Wind/Hydrogen
Demonstration System in Norway

• Arnaud Eté

EWEC 2009 - Marseille
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Plan for this Presentation

• Presentation of SgurrEnergy
• What is a wind/hydrogen energy system
• The modelling tool
• Presentation of the Utsira Project in Norway
• Results of the simulations
• Conclusions

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Introducing SgurrEnergy

• Leading independent engineering consultancy
• International
• Based in Glasgow (Head Office), Vancouver,
  Beijing, Pune (India), Wexford Paris
• Experienced
• Over 90 responsive engineers and consultants
• Professional
• ISO 9001 14001 certified
• OHSAS 18001 certified
• Award Winning
• SCDI Award for Outstanding Achievement in RE
  2008
• Glasgow Business Award for International
  Activity 2007
• Best Business Achievement 2007 at Green Energy
  Awards

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Wind/H2 System A Balancing Mechanism

• Hydrogen is an energy carrier, not an energy
  source!
• An electrolyser, a H2 storage and a fuel cell are
  used to store the excess electricity generated by
  wind turbines and produce electricity from
  hydrogen when needed

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Wind/Hydrogen Systems
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Why We Should Use Modelling

• The hydrogen economy is often proposed as the
  means to solve both global warming and depletion
  of fossil fuel resources
• But technology still immature and performance
  needs to be improved to compete with conventional
  systems
• Computer modelling can help to optimise the
  system design and improve performance
• Modelling tool used TRNSYS/ TRNSED

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The Utsira Project in Norway
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The Utsira Project

• Collaboration with the Institute for Energy
  Technology (IFE) and StatoilHydro in Norway
• Utsira is the first large-scale demonstration of
  a stand-alone renewable energy system where the
  energy balance is provided by stored hydrogen
• In operation since winter 2004/2005
• Significant amount of operational data over the
  past 3 years

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Objectives

• Utsira Project
• Demonstrate how wind and hydrogen systems can
  provide safe and efficient power supply to
  communities in remote areas
• This study
• Use operational data from the Utsira plant to
  calibrate a set of energy models suitable for
  simulations in TRNSYS
• Evaluate the techno-economic performance of the
  plant
• Identify improved system designs and find an
  optimal configuration

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The Energy System at Utsira
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Modelling of the System

• Use of one month of operational data (March 07)
• Calibration of the system components
• Load profile and wind speed data
• Power curve of the wind turbine Enercon E40
• Hydrogen engine
• Electrolyser

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Electrolyzer H2 Engine Modelling
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Improvement of the System Design

• The existing system cannot guarantee a 100
  stand-alone operation for long periods of time

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Optimisation of the Utsira System (1/4)

• Optimisation based on cost calculations lower
  total net present cost for the project

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Optimisation of the Utsira System (2/4)

• Analysis using one year of operational data
  (Jan-Dec 05)

• Optimal system at Utsira
• 100 kW electrolyser
• 50 kW hydrogen engine
• 11,100 Nm³ of H2 storage (70 m³ at 200b )
• For a 100 stand-alone operation, the size of the
  electrolyser should be doubled and the H2 tank
  should be almost 5 times bigger!

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Optimisation of the Utsira System (3/4)

• To obtain better performance and reduce the size
  of the system, the existing H2 engine is replaced
  by a more efficient fuel cell

• Optimal system at Utsira
• 48 kW electrolyser
• 50 kW fuel cell
• 4800 Nm³ of H2 storage (30 m³ at 200b )
• The efficiency of the power generating system and
  the size of the H2 tank should be doubled
  compared to the existing system

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Optimisation of the Utsira System (4/4)
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Conclusions (1)

• Techno-economic model of wind/hydrogen energy
  system built on the TRNSYS platform and
  user-friendly interface designed
• Models applied to the wind/hydrogen demonstration
  project on the Island of Utsira in Norway
• This study has shown that the system needs to be
  modified in order to achieve fully autonomous
  operation for long periods of time
• Increase the size of the hydrogen storage
• Replace the hydrogen engine by a more efficient
  fuel cell

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Conclusions (2)

• Further technical improvements and cost
  reductions are necessary before wind/H2 systems
  can compete with existing commercial solutions,
  for example wind/diesel hybrid systems
• Hybrid system solutions should be based on more
  than one energy source (e.g. wind, solar,
  bioenergy) to reduce the need for large and
  costly energy storage
• When only based on wind it is particularly
  important to choose a location with a steady wind
  resource

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Thank youarnaud.ete_at_sgurrenergy.com
SgurrEnergy 225 Bath Street G2 4GZ Glasgow,
UK Tel [phone]