Design optimisation and costing analysis of a renewable energy hydrogen system

Abstract

The South African Department of Science and Technology is striving to develop a means of producing hydrogen gas in remote and civil areas through the use of renewable energy sources. For the purposes of creating such mobile hydrogen production facilities, a small-scale hydrogen production system based on renewable energy sources needs to be developed and modelled. This system is to serve as a pilot plant for further development of a large scale mobile hydrogen production facility. This work focuses on the characterisation of sizing algorithms for renewable energy sources which can determine component configurations that satisfy power requirements of the system. Additionally, optimal sizing techniques must be developed which can output an optimal plant configuration to a user based on cost and efficiency. To this end, a literature study was done on all the components that make up a renewable energy hydrogen system. The techniques researched were then applied to create algorithms capable of correctly sizing the required components of such a plant. These techniques were integrated into an application created in the LabVIEW environment, which is capable of outputting an optimal plant configuration based on the specific needs of a client. A case study was defined with which the results of the simulation models were verified. Using this work, a future, more comprehensive system may be developed and commercialised, building from the techniques implemented here.