Design and development of an innovative integrated structure for the production and storage of energy and hydrogen utilizing renewable energy

Abstract

Herein, solar dish collector, phase change material energy storage, solid oxide electrolysis cell, and thermoelectric generator sub-systems for synchronous supply of hydrogen and electricity in Farakhi village was introduced for the first time and comprehensively investigated. A hybrid renewable energy system was integrated into the integrated structure to generate and store the direct current electrical energy required by the solid oxide electrolysis cell sub-system and other consumers. Modeling of solar dish collector, phase change material energy storage, and thermoelectric generator sub-systems were performed in MATLAB engineering software, while solid oxide electrolysis cell sub-system modeling was carried out both in ASPEN HYSYS and MATLAB software. In addition, the modeling of hybrid renewable energy system was conducted by HOMER Pro software. It is worth noting that this is the first study presented on the use of hybrid renewable energy system to generate and store electrical energy required by process facilities. The influence of influential parameters on the proficiency of each sub-system was examined comprehensively through sensitivity analysis. The results obtained revealed that the amount of utilizable heat absorbed by the heat transfer fluid as well as the outlet temperature of the collector in summer was considerable than the amount of heat required. Therefore, most of the heat stored in the thermal energy storage sub-system occurred in this season. During charging process of the thermal energy storage sub-system 60.56 kWh of energy was stored. The output power of the thermoelectric generators increased with the molar flow rates of oxygen and hydrogen streams. PV/WT/BG/Bat hybrid system was selected as the best option to supply the required electricity. The share of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, and biogas generators to supply the required electricity in the first scenario were 53.3%, 35.0%, and 11.6%, respectively. The efficiency of the hybrid system without and considering the thermoelectric generator sub-system was achieved 79.72% and 80.69%, respectively.