Design and operational analysis of an alkaline water electrolysis plant powered by wind energy
Lucas Cammann, Anushka Perera, Vidar Alstad, Johannes Jäschke
Abstract
This work investigates the optimal design and operation of an alkaline water electrolysis plant fed by renewable electricity. At the basis of this investigation lies a mathematical model that is developed to capture essential mechanisms regarding gas purity and temperature constraints. This model is optimized for maximized hydrogen production given varying power inputs and design variations. Resulting operational profiles are then weighted with realistic wind power data, allowing for a novel framework in which mechanistic models of different scales are combined to predict annual hydrogen production and online-factors. The highest online-factors are achieved with independent power supplies, which, for degraded plants, results in the largest annual production increase of all design variations (up to 9%). Designs facilitating flexible pressure operation show the largest improvement potential for novel plants, increasing the production rate by up to 4.5%. • Development of modeling and optimization framework for alkaline electrolysis plant. • Investigation of BoP design on load range and utilization of wind power. • HTO related load limit reduced by flexible pressure or individual power supplies. • Flexible pressure operation increases production most (4.5%) for novel plant. • Individual power supplies increase production most (9%) for degraded plant.