Thermodynamic Analysis and Design of a Heliostat Field to Co-Produce Hydrogen and Electricity

Abstract

This paper investigates the use of hydrogen along with natural gases and solar energy to power a 50 MW power plant in the United Arab Emirates. Sudden changes in the climate have shifted the focus of scientists to formulate solutions to global warming and environmental pollution. Hence, numerous researches are being carried out on various renewable energy sources, such as solar energy and hydrogen. This study examines how the power generation, carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and the fuel consumption of the power plant is affected by the use of hydrogen, solar energy and natural gases. The power plant under investigation consisted of a hybrid conventional combined cycle whose bottoming cycle was allocated for the production of hydrogen during the day. The hydrogen that was produced was used at night to power the topping cycle to generate electricity. Solar energy was captured through concentrated solar power technology, while hydrogen was produced by a water electrolysis process. An extensive investigation of the performance of the power plant revealed that its annual hydrogen share was 7%, solar share 20% and natural gas share 73%. In addition, the annual CO2 emission and fuel consumption was found to be 394.1 kgCO2/MWhe and 58412 tonne respectively.