Renewable Electrolysis In

System Development and 

Ben Kroposki

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

May 16, 2006

Presented at the 2006 DOE Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technolog

This presentation does not contain any proprietary or confidential info

NREL/PR-560-39803
Disclaimer and Government License

This work has been authored by Midwest Research Institute (MRI) under Contract No. DE-AC36-99GO10337 with the U.S. DepaGovernment (the “Government”) retains and the publisher, by accepting the work for publication, acknowledges that the Governmworldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for Government purposes.Neither MRI, the DOE, the Government, nor any other agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or reprprivately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manimply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of the anecessarily state or reflect those of MRI, the DOE, the Government, or any agency thereof. 
Overview

Timeline

Project Start Date: 9/2003Project End Date: Ongoing

Budget

Total Project Funding:FY05 - $400K DOE

FY06 - $625K DOE

- $1.3M Industry cost share

Production Barriers

• G. Cost• H. System efficiency• J. Renewable integration

Pa

• Xcel Energy

• Proton Ene• Teledyne • Northern Po• Hydrogen E• Univ. of No• Univ. of Min• Basin Elect• Ft. Collins U• DOE Wind/H
Presentation Outlin

• Overview

• Objectives

• Background

• Approach

• Technical Accomplishments

– Hydrogen Utility Group (HUG)

– Economic Analysis of Wind-Electroly

– Current Wind-Electrolysis Testing

– Planned Projects and Collaborations

• Future Plans

• Summary
Project Objectives

This project examines the issues with using reenergy to produce hydrogen by electrolyzing 

• Characterize electrolyzer performance under var

conditions

• Design and develop shared power electronics pa

controllers to reduce cost and optimize system pidentify opportunities for system cost reduction thbreakthroughs in component integration

• Test, evaluate, and optimize the renewable elect

performance for both

• Dedicated hydrogen production• Electricity/hydrogen cogeneration

• Verify DOE goals of:

• grid-connected electrolysis cost of $2.85/kg by 2• renewable hydrogen production cost of $2.75/kg 
Project Background 

Importance and Need – Projec
Project Approach

1. Coordination, Planning, and Stakeholder Develo

Work with DOE and industry to develop roadmap 

electrolysis and system development

2. Systems Engineering, Modeling, and Analysis

Develop concept platforms, develop and validate 

models, system assessment, and optimization too

3. System Integration and Component Developme

Work with industry to develop new advanced hard

strategies to couple renewable and electrolyzer sy

4. Characterization Testing and Protocol Developm

Equipment installation, performance characterizat

procedure development
Technical Accomplishme

Hydrogen Utility Group

• Founded in October 2005 with 

support from DOE, NREL, EPRI, NHA• NREL’s role has been to facilitate the 

organization of the group and share hydrogen experience• Meetings in Nov. 05 and Jan. 06• Senate Caucus – Feb. 2006

• Two sessions at NHA meeting• Over 10 active utility members • Membership is open to electric and 

combined electric/gas utilities and others as approved by the Steering Committee
Technical Accomplishme

Hydrogen Utility Group

Mission: To accelerate utility integration of promising h

energy related business applications through the coord

and actions of its members, in collaboration with key staincluding government agencies and utility support organ• Power companies are looking for ways to better serve 

customers’ future energy needs 

• Hydrogen system integration efforts can be aided by s

lessons learned between companies• Common questions to the power industry are best con

collectively, rather than individually• Electrolysis is a near-term focus for using electricity to 

hydrogen
Hydrogen costs via electrolysis 

$0.00$1.00$2.00$3.00$4.00$5.00$6.00$7.00$8.00

0.000 0.010 0.020 0.030 0.040 0.050 

Electricity costs 

H2 cost $/kg

Commercial System Efficiencies (54-6Ideal System (HHV of Hydrogen 39 kW

`

Economics of Wind – www.awea.org

• Electricity prices need 

to be under $0.055/kWh to meet DOE targets using current efficiencies

• Wind is the fastest 

growing renewable energy source (2,500MW 

installed in 2005 in US)

• Wind is a cost 

effective renewable energy source ($0.03-$0.05/kWh)

Technical Accomplishme

Economics of Wind Electroly
Technical Accomplishme

• Cos

distrfrom 

• High 

• Win

($0.

• Co

farm del

• Do

effisys

• Low

bas

• Win

($0

Economics of Pure-Wind Electrolysis fo

Dist

Cen
Technical Accomplishme

+

40VDC

Step Down

Transformer

40 VDC Battery Bank 

Half-bridge 

Controlled SCR 

Bridge

AC Source 

(Wind Turbine) 

Simulator

10kW Wind 

Turbine AC-DC Power 

Electronics

Battery Ba

or

Current Wind-Electrolysis Pro
Technical Accomplishme

Prototype Electrolyzer Performance TestingCharacterization with simulated low-wind speed conditions

• This shows current into electrolyzer stack from wind tu

Nodr
Technical Accomplishme

Prototype Electrolyzer Performance TestingCharacterization with simulated high-wind speed condition

• High • Pow

regula• 50A • No a

winds interfa• Build

interfa• Build

next g
Technical Accomplishme

• Off the shelf power electronics do not e

range and application for wind-electroly

• This project will build a configurable pla

on standard PE devices but have the achange control system based on operaparameters

IndustanelecDC-

Build Control System in Simulink based on wind/electrolyzerinput/outputs

Generate code for controller – download to processor

Power Electronics Interface Deve
Technical Accomplishme

Xcel-NREL Wind2H2 Proj

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Teledyne

HM-100

(Alkaline) 50kW

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Hydrogen Compression 

and Storage

3,500 PSI

DC BUS

DC-DC

Converter

DC-DC

Converters

Northern Power Systems 

100kW Wind Turbine

Excess AC Power

Bergey

10kW Wind 

Turbine

AC-DC

Converter Hydrogen Output
Technical Accomplishme

Xcel-NREL Wind2H2 Proj

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Teledyne

HM-100

(Alkaline) 50kW

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Hydrogen Compression 

and Storage

3,500 PSI

Hydrogen Output

Grid Connected Mode
Technical Accomplishme

Xcel-NREL Wind2H2 Proj

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Teledyne

HM-100

(Alkaline) 50kW

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Hydrogen Compression 

and Storage

3,500 PSI

DC BUS

DC-DC

Converter

DC-DC

Converters

Northern Power Systems 

100kW Wind Turbine

Excess AC Power

Wind/Grid 

Hydrogen Output

Mode
Technical Accomplishme

Xcel-NREL Wind2H2 Proj

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Proton Energy 

HOGEN 40RE

(PEM) 5kW

Hydrogen Compression 

and Storage

3,500 PSI

Bergey

10kW Wind 

Turbine

AC-DC

Converter Hydrogen Output

Off-Grid Mode
Benefits of the Project

1) Exploring how to make hydrogen without produci

gasses or other harmful by-products

2) Creating synergies from co-production of electric

• By storing hydrogen for later use, the project addres

intermittent nature of wind power, creating a ready sofor when the wind doesn’t blow or the demand for elec

• Consistent support of the electric grid from off-peak 

hydrogen

• Potential hydrogen production for vehicle use

3) Comparing alkaline and PEM electrolyzer technol4) Achieving efficiency gains though a unique integr

connection between the wind turbine and the elecstudied

Technical Accomplishme

Xcel-NREL Wind2H2 Proj
Added Value from Collabo

NREL and

Xcel Energy

University 

of Minnesota

• Coordinated “Wind Storage”• DC/DC Interface• Re-deployable

• Larger Scale “Wind Storage”

• Anhydrous Ammonia Production

• Vehicle & Hybrid Applications

• Hig

• Vehicle 

• Hydr

Basin Electric

• Parallel timetables

• Inter-project 

collaboration, data sharing and H2 safety

• Welcome additional 

partners to the informal renewable electrolysis collaborative
Future Work

FY07 Plans• Start test program on Wind2H2 Project

• Complete standard test protocol develop

renewable-electrolyzer performance and 

(Possible IPHE Project)

• Model/simulation of renewable-electrolyz

performance

FY08-FY10 Plans

• Based on experience with Wind2H2 Proj

possible tests of 1.5MW wind turbine/eleproject

Remainder of FY06

• Complete installation of Wind2H2 Projec
Summary Slide

• Economic analysis shows that ren

electrolysis can meet DOE hydrogtargets

• Working with Hydrogen Utility Gro

examine how utilities can effectiveand use hydrogen

• Multi-partner collaborative effort t

renewable electrolysis (industry, uutilities, government)

• Research on cost reductions and 

gains in renewable electrolysis syintegration
Responses to Previous 

Reviewers’ Commen

Comment: To few publications so far.

Response: This project has published two paper

this year and several more are in the works. As rethey will become public.

Comment: Focus on system costs.

Response: Initial economic study was conducted 

on Wind-Electrolysis. Results are included in currResults also used to meet DOE Joule milestone

Comment: Include storage and use of hydrogen 

Response: Wind2H2 Project will include hydroge

storage, and use for a real-world application.
Publications and Presenta

“Wind Energy and Production of Hydrogen and Electrfor Renewable Hydrogen: Preprint.” Levene, J.; KropCP-560-39534, 2006 POWER-GEN Renewable EnerTechnical Conference, April 10-12 2006, Las Vegas, 

“Characterizing Electrolyzer Performance for Use wi

Harrison, K., Kroposki, B., Pink, C. AWEA ConferencPittsburg, PA.
Critical Assumptions and Is

Assumptions• Electrolysis coupled directly with renewable sy

technically and economically feasible.

• There is a cost savings and efficiency gain by c

renewable systems and electrolyzers.

• Renewable electrolysis is the best near-term ca

hydrogen production solution.

Issues• Utilities need more information on hydrogen pr

and use. Need to continue collaboration.

• Hydrogen may be a solution to the storage of e

intermittent renewable energy systems.

• Analysis need to be done to see when and if hy

makes sense.

• Need to improve electrolyzer costs and efficien
Renewable Electrolysis - Integrated Systems Developme

FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 

5 kW PEM – 5kWPV & 10kW Wind

50kW Electrolyzer & 100 WT Design Testing

500kW Elec & 1.5MW WT Design Co

Construction

Characterization Testing and P

Coordination, Planning and Stakeholder Development

System Engineering and Modeling 

System Integration and Comp

Workshops W W Hydrogen Utility Interest Group and Renewable Elect

Dev. Current Costs 

and Performance data

Develop Energy System Assessment Tool 

(Combine H2 and Elect. Costs)

Develop Engineering Simulation Tool

5/10kW PE Interface 50kW PE Interface 500kW PE Interface

Conduct 

Site and System 

Optimal Sy

ElectrolysisUtility 

Integration 

Workshop

Sept 2004

Project Timeline

Key: Reduce cost by combining power

electronic components, optimize systembased on hydrogen and electricity production