A Techno-Economic Investigation on Hydrogen Utilization as a Long-term Energy Storage Solution for Microgrids

Abstract

The study aims to demonstrate a standalone PV-Hydrogen-battery microgrid's technical and economic merits in a developing country. Besides having adequate renewable energy resources, necessary fossil fuel resources have also been deployed in the microgrid to create a reliable and sustainable system. The primary renewable energy resource explored is the solar PV system. The diesel-powered generators are integrated to support the system stability in high PV penetration scenarios. In such cases, energy storage options are also integrated to store excess electricity, provide sufficient autonomy, system stability and virtual inertia. Despite the higher initial cost, Li-ion based batteries and Hydrogen have received widespread acceptance as potential renewable energy storage technologies for coping with the variability nature of renewable energy resources. In this study, a microgrid is designed for a remote site in Bangladesh, and the system is optimized using seasonal load and real-time market data from Bangladesh. The results indicate that Hydrogen may be used as a long-term energy storage solution even in a developing country and thus, a diesel-PV-Hydrogen-battery microgrid has been found to be efficient and cost-effective for remote Bangladeshi communities.