Active Load Management of Hydrogen Refuelling Stations for Increasing the Grid Integration of Renewable Generation

Abstract

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) can help reduce carbon emissions, air pollution and dependency on fossil fuels in the transport sector. Clean hydrogen fuel can be generated by a powerto-gas process at refuelling stations equipped with water electrolysers, especially in renewable rich areas. Coupled with onsite hydrogen tanks, the fast response capability of electrolysis, could potentially turn the station demand into a flexible electricity load since the hydrogen can be stored and used when needed. This paper presents a novel real-time load management scheme that actively operates a hydrogen refuelling station to relieve thermal network constraints, handles the fluctuations from renewables, and releases network headroom for connecting renewable generation. The key components involved in the refuelling station and their operational characteristics are explicitly modelled in the analysis. The economic impact of the different operational strategies is also examined. In the case study, the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy to avoid overloading and save curtailment in the local distribution network is verified by running the real-time network simulation at 1 minute steps over a 1 hour window and 5 day window respectively. Moreover, a whole year simulation of the station operation shows that the proposed active control strategy enables wind farms in the local network to avoid 9.5 times more curtailment than under passive control strategy. The station's net cost of electricity consumption thus can be reduced by 7.5%., by making use of excess electricity that would otherwise be curtailed. A further 5% reduction on the cost would be possible if the incentive rewards for offering network constraint management services are in place.INDEX TERMS Power-to-gas, hydrogen vehicle, flexible demands, active network management, renewable energy, multi-energy integration.

Optimal operation of active distribution networks hosting hybrid hydrogen‐electricity refuelling stations considering water demand under a stochastic‐IGDT approach

“…Afterward, the stored hydrogen can be released to supply the HVs demand. The constraints associated with the operational and technical constraints of hydrogen storages are given by ( 19)- (23).…”

“…In another related study in [22], the authors have presented a collaborative strategy for ADNs and hybrid refuelling stations in the form of the mixed‐integer linear programming (MILP) problem that helps to cope with future electrical and hydrogen demands growth due to the increasing use of HVs and EVs. Additionally, in [23], a real‐time scheduling strategy has been developed for actively operating hybrid refuelling stations, where the main goals were to handle the fluctuations from RESs and enhance the ADNs flexibility after multiple hybrid stations were connected.…”

Comprehensive Optimization-based Techno-economic Assessment of Hybrid Renewable Electricity-hydrogen Virtual Power Plants

“…Therefore, it is important to consider network constraints to obtain an accurate estimate of potential revenue. In [27], an electrolyser and wind farm are operated together, and a basic consideration of the electrical network through a transformer thermal rating is included. Even when this limited consider-ation of network conditions is included, it results in reduced costs and reduced RES curtailment.…”

Greenhouse gases emission reduction for electric power generation sector by efficient dispatching of thermal plants integrated with renewable systems

“…The growing demand of electricity and power generation from fuel contribute significantly to greenhouse gases emissions and global climate change 1 , 2 . This detrimental role is becoming more pronounced as the economic and industrial advancements are accelerating throughout the world.…”