The Potential of Hydrogen-Based Storage Systems in Sub-saharan Africa

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-156-2_31How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Hydrogen; Sub-Saharan Africa; Photovoltaic; Energy Storage; Mini-Grid

Abstract

Photovoltaic power systems and mini-grids with energy storage in form of electrochemical batteries are becoming more widespread and are playing an increasingly important role in energy supply. By design, photovoltaic-based power systems often generate a surplus of electrical energy during favourable weather conditions and low electricity demand. Measures such as demand-side management can increase energy use when energy is available. However, when feed-in is not possible, either because a system is off-grid or due to technical or regulatory reasons, photovoltaic generators are either shut down or their output is reduced when energy storage is full and demand is low, resulting in less energy production than theoretically possible and leaving resources unused. One solution for using excess power is to store it in form of hydrogen, using an electrolyser and a storage tank. Energy stored in the form of hydrogen can have multiple usages, such as mid-term, seasonal energy storage, e.g., to bridge low energy production during winter or during a rainy season. Thus, hydrogen-based energy storage can play an important role to decarbonize energy systems in the near future. Based on measurements of an existing 165 kWp distributed mini-grid in Tema, Ghana, a model was created to simulate the mini-grid as it currently exists and with an additional hydrogen power plant, including the generation, storage and conversion to electricity with a fuel cell, which is planned to be added to the mini-grid. As the main result it was found that under high-demand conditions, 10% of the total PV production power can be used to electrolyse hydrogen, which can fulfil 6.2% of the systems demand at other times while ensuring a self-sufficient operation of the mini-grid that may not be possible without the hydrogen storage capabilities.

Copyright

© 2023 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Sebastian Schneider
AU  - Michele Velenderic
AU  - Maximilian Staib
AU  - Elias Küpper
AU  - Semih Severengiz
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/05/25
TI  - The Potential of Hydrogen-Based Storage Systems in Sub-saharan Africa
BT  - Proceedings of the International Renewable Energy Storage  Conference (IRES 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 489
EP  - 499
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-156-2_31
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-156-2_31
ID  - Schneider2023
ER  -