Hydrogen Modeling Now Available in Xendee

Written by Xendee | Mar 11, 2023 6:00:00 PM

Store Energy and Power Vehicles with Hydrogen

Generate and utilize hydrogen on-site to sustainably store energy, power vehicles and fight through outages.

What is Hydrogen and How is it Used as a Fuel Source?

Hydrogen is a clean fuel stored as a gas or frozen liquid that generates pure water as its only byproduct. Unfortunately, about 95% of it is currently generated using steam methane reformation, which burns fossil fuels and creates a lower overall efficiency than if that same fuel were to be burned directly. In contrast, Xendee software models the process of electrolysis which can generate hydrogen power directly from sustainable sources such as solar and wind energy by running electricity through water to separate the hydrogen from the oxygen. The pure hydrogen is then stored as a gas or frozen liquid and is able to power the facility sustainably during peak hours, ride through an extended blackout, or directly power a fleet of vehicles, heavy construction trucks, or even an airplane.

How is Hydrogen Modeled in Xendee?

Xendee’s In-Depth Expert Techno-Economic Designer (also referred to as expert mode) can model hydrogen as part of a fuel purchase, electrolyzer production, and the storage of hydrogen. First, as a fuel source, Xendee can choose to purchase hydrogen fuel to help meet emission goals or resiliency requirements. Next, electrolyzer production is the on-site generation of hydrogen through an electrically induced chemical reaction. This is powered completely by sustainable resources, and can take advantage of excess production during the day, for instance during a sunny afternoon, to generate hydrogen from PV instead of curtailment. Finally, Xendee can optimize the purchase, storage, and dispatch of hydrogen to ensure it is used most efficiently within the system.

Make Use of Excess Renewable Energy: An ideal use case for hydrogen is when a Microgrid’s renewable energy resources are generating an excess of power (typically solar or wind) needed to meet the building load. This often happens during the middle of the afternoon where solar capture is the highest but building load and energy needs are easily met.
Generate Hydrogen with an Electrolyzer: In these cases, hydrogen can be generated and stored by the system through the use of an electrolyzer. This device runs electricity through water to separate the oxygen particles from the hydrogen, emitting oxygen and storing the hydrogen as a pressurized gas or frozen liquid.
Store On-Site: Store at your facility and use it during peak hours or sell it to make a profit.
Use in Fuel Cells: Use hydrogen in a fuel cell to meet building loads and offset energy costs.
Power a Fleet: Power compatible vehicles including cars, trucks, and airplanes.

Modeling Hydrogen as a Competitive Microgrid Fuel

Discover Opportunities for Hydrogen Generation

The electrolyzer is driven by electricity, whose source is decided by Xendee based on cost or other parameters set by the modeler. This typically comes from PV (or wind), as it can utilize otherwise curtailed energy to create and store hydrogen to then use in a fuel cell after sunset. In the example below, excess wind power from mid-day is being used to provide electricity to the electrolyzer as expressed by the shaded delta (Δ) area.

Optimize Hydrogen Dispatch to Maximize Energy Savings

The energy provided to the electrolyzer by the dispatch above is used to produce hydrogen, which is stored on-site in the dedicated storage optimized by Xendee. The hydrogen is then discharged in the evening to run the on-site fuel cell. Additionally, Xendee users can run another analysis using batteries instead to easily determine if a hydrogen storage system or battery storage system would be most cost-efficient or resilient for this specific design.

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