Energy capacity and economic viability assessment of the renewable hydrogen energy storage as a balancing mechanism in addressing the electric system integration issues inherent with variable renewable energy resources

Abstract

Energy requirements continue increasing as the industrialisation spreads and the standards of living rise. Most of the world's power consumption is still generated from fossil fuels combustion which despite of its advanced development has only a maximum efficiency of about 50%, generates almost 35% of the greenhouse emissions, as well as becoming expensive and insecure with the recent instability of oil prices. Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, micro-hydro, wave, geothermal, and biomass are potential solutions for clean energy problem, but still challenges exist. Britain's target to reduce carbon emissions by 32% by 2020 through producing up to 34% of electricity and 15% of all energy from renewables cannot be met unless the contribution of such intermittent energy sources becomes more effective. Storing energy harnessed from renewables using energy storage technologies allows integration of such intermittent weather dependent energy sources while balancing the grid. Hydrogen Energy storage technology is proposed here to enable the UK to utilise its vast, but intermittent renewable energy resources with increased reliance. The objective within this study is to evaluate this process which represents genuine energy carbon neutrality. Energy capacity and economic viability assessment of an existing wind/hydrogen energy system operating in conjunction with the grid is provided here as a case study. (7 pages)