3E Assessment of Hydrogen-Fuel Cell based Electricity Generation using the Wind Regime of Memel, South Africa

The Energy, Economic and Environmental (3E) assessments of hydrogen production using wind characteristics of the town of Memel in the Free State province of South Africa has been performed with the objective of generating electricity using fuel cells. This allows wind energy to be stored in chemical form in hydrogen with the purpose of generating electricity at a later stage thereby mitigating the intermittent nature of wind energy. The study showed that the town of Memel has considerable wind energy resources viable for hydrogen production with annual average wind speed of 7.4m/s at 60m anemometer height. This has a potential to produce 104 tons of hydrogen per annum with electricity generation potential of 1980 GWh when used in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell with unit cost of 5.8$/kWh. The use of fuel cells was found to have potential to mitigate 588,000 kg of CO2 and 1670 kg of CO per annum. This paper provides scientific information useful for steering up hydrogen economy in South Africa.