Design and transient analyses of a new renewable energy system for multigeneration of power, heat, hydrogen and ammonia

Abstract

In this study, a new wind and solar energy-based system is developed for multigeneration of clean electricity, heat, hydrogen and ammonia. Two input commodities considered are air and water for producing clean hydrogen and synthesizing into ammonia. With the excess wind power, hydrogen and ammonia are further synthesized where the produced ammonia is also used as an energy storage medium. Furthermore, excess solar energy is stored and used to generate electricity as well as dissociate ammonia for fuel cell operation when low energy availability exists. A dynamic investigation of the developed system is performed to assess its performance during each month of the year through energetic and exergetic analyses. The integrated system is found to be capable of providing an 8-h maximum stable power output value of 104.5 MW from solar-based power generation. Also, a 6-h maximum stable wind-based power output of 92.2 MW is obtained for the developed system. In addition, the highest daily hydrogen and ammonia synthesis during the year entail values of 5849.3 kmol and 1949.8 kmol, respectively. The overall daily energy efficiency of the system during the year varies between 37.4% and 62.9% whereas the corresponding exergy efficiency lies between 35.1% and 55.5%.