Oportunities for hydrogen production in connection with wind power in weak grids

Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the opportunities that exist for combining wind power and hydrogen (H2) production in weak grids. It is described how H2 storage can be applied in both isolated and grid-connected systems, and how the produced H2 can be utilized for stationary energy supply and/or as a fuel for transportation. The paper discusses the benefits and limitations of the different H2 storage applications, and presents a logistic simulation model for performance evaluation of wind-H2 plants. A case study simulating the use of excess wind power in a weak distribution grid to produce H2 for vehicles has been presented. It is shown that the penetration of wind power can be significantly increased by introducing electrolytic H2 production as a controllable load. The results also indicate that there are large benefits of using the grid as backup for H2 production in periods with low wind speed, regarding the H2 storage sizing and the electrolyser operating conditions.