Targeting and scheduling of standalone renewable energy system with liquid organic hydrogen carrier as energy storage

Abstract

The exploitation of renewable energy sources is crucial in promoting energy transition from fossil-based to renewable-based, but their intermittent nature causes the mismatch of energy supply and demand. This can be resolved using an energy storage to store the excess energy from renewables and release it when the energy supply is in deficit. Hydrogen has a good potential for energy storage as it can tackle the spatial differences in renewable energy supply, but its storage in compressed gas or cryogenic liquid form incurs high investment cost. Liquid organic hydrogen carrier offers a cheaper and more convenient way of storing hydrogen as compared to conventional means. This paper proposes a cascade analysis approach for the targeting and scheduling of a self-sufficient standalone energy system that is fully supported by renewables and with liquid organic hydrogen carrier as energy storage. The fraction of hydrogen and electricity consumed for the system self-requirement is first determined before cascade analysis is performed to identify the optimal capacity of the energy system. Results indicated that 255,020 m2 of solar panel is required for a region with 45.1 MWh daily electricity demand. If the system energy requirement is neglected, most equipment would be undersized by about 40%.