Case Study of a Hydrogen-Based District Heating in a Rural Area: Modeling and Evaluation of Prediction and Optimization Methodologies

Abstract

Buildings are accountable for about one third of the greenhouse gas emissions in Germany. An important step toward the reduction of greenhouse gases is to decarbonize the power productions and heating systems. However, in an energy system with a high share of renewable energy sources, large shares of energy have to be stored in summer for the winter season. Chemical energy storages, in this case hydrogen, can provide these qualities and offer diverse opportunities for coupling different sectors.In this work, a simulation model is introduced which combines a PEM electrolyzer, a hydrogen compression, a high-pressure storage, and a PEM fuel cell for power and heat production. Applied on a building cluster in a rural area with existing PV modules, this system is optimized for operation as a district heating system based on measured and forecasted data. Evolutionary algorithms were used to determine the optimized system parameters.The investigated system achieves an overall heat demand coverage of 63%. However, the local hydrogen production is not sufficient to meet the fuel cell demand. Several refills of the storage tanks with delivered hydrogen would be necessary within the year studied.