Abstract
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, energy security and vulnerability have become critical issues facing the Japanese energy system. The integration of renewable energy sources to meet specific regional energy demand is a promising scenario to overcome these challenges. To this aim, this paper proposes a novel hydrogen-based hybrid renewable energy system (HRES), in which hydrogen fuel can be produced using both the methods of solar electrolysis and supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of biomass feedstock. The produced hydrogen is considered to function as an energy storage medium by storing renewable energy until the fuel cell converts it to electricity. The proposed HRES is used to meet the electricity demand load requirements for a typical household in a selected residential area located in Shinchi-machi in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. The techno-economic assessment of deploying the proposed systems was conducted, using an integrated simulation-optimization modeling framework, considering two scenarios: (1) minimization of the total cost of the system in an off-grid mode and (2) maximization of the total profit obtained from using renewable electricity and selling surplus solar electricity to the grid, considering the feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme in a grid-tied mode. As indicated by the model results, the proposed HRES can generate about 47.3 MWh of electricity in all scenarios, which is needed to meet the external load requirement in the selected study area. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of the system in scenarios 1 and 2 was estimated at 55.92 JPY/kWh and 56.47 JPY/kWh, respectively.
Highlights
Japan is facing a severe challenge regarding the heavy dependence on fossil fuels after the GreatEast Japan Earthquake [1]
Case Study: The proposed hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) was utilized in a residential area located in a subject district in Shinchimachi of Fukushima prefecture, Japan
In this study, modeling and simulation of a hydrogen-based HRES were conducted in order to find the optimal configuration of the system that can be used to meet the electrical load requirement of a typical Japanese household located in a residential area in Shinchi-machi, Fukuoka prefecture, Japan
Summary
Japan is facing a severe challenge regarding the heavy dependence on fossil fuels after the GreatEast Japan Earthquake [1]. Japan is facing a severe challenge regarding the heavy dependence on fossil fuels after the Great. Fossil fuels currently account for 89% of the total energy consumption in. Japan, which approaches the level of the oil shock in 1973. To tackle this challenge, the government of. Japan needs to develop and utilize renewable energy sources to increase its energy self-sufficiency rate and reduce the environmental impacts of the increased use of fossil fuels [2,3]. Since renewable energies are from the natural environment, they are all weather-dependent, which makes them vulnerable in developing a stable power system.
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