Hydrogen generation from small-scale wind-powered electrolysis system in different power matching modes

This study presents a techno-economic evaluation on hydrogen generation from a small-scale wind-powered electrolysis system in different power matching modes. For the analysis, wind speed data, which measured as hourly time series in Kirklareli, Turkey, were used to predict the electrical energy and hydrogen produced by the wind hydrogen energy system and their variation according to the height of the wind turbine. The system considered in this study is primarily consisted of a 6 kW wind-energy conversion system and a 2 kW PEM electrolyzer. The calculation of energy production was made by means of the levelized cost method by considering two different systems that are the grid-independent system and the grid-integrated system. Annual production of electrical energy and hydrogen was calculated as 15,148.26 kWh/year and 102.37 kg/year, respectively. The highest hydrogen production is obtained in January. The analyses showed that both electrical energy and hydrogen production depend strongly on the hub height of wind turbine in addition to the economic indicators. In the grid-integrated system, the calculated levelized cost of hydrogen changes in the range of 0.3485-4.4849 US$/kg for 36 m hub height related to the specific turbine cost. The grid-integrated system can be considered as profitable when the excess electrical energy delivered by system sold to the grid. (C) 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.