The 2nd International Conference on New Energy and Future Energy System
September 22nd-25th, 2017, Kunming, Yunnan, China
Speech title: Large scale hydrogen production in wind farms supporting the frequency control requirements of the grid
Abstract: Wind power penetration in the electrical grids has increased significantly and is still expanding, setting wind as one of the most important energy sources for electricity production. The new challenge for wind energy conversion systems is to emulate the conventional power plant operation and to provide ancillary services to the grid in order to maintain grid stability and security. In several countries the grid code requires the wind farm normal operation level to be confined at around the 90 % of the available active power output so that in case of an under-frequency event the wind farm will provide its maximum contribution assisting the frequency of the system to reach its nominal value. This percentage of active power is actually wasted, while it can be used for hydrogen production through electrolysis or stored by other means. A case study of a wind farm cluster incorporating a water electrolyzer is presented with simulated results of hydrogen production over a year’s operation. Use of hydrogen as a carrier for the storage of wind energy shows several advantages. Hydrogen production from electrolysis offers a convenient way to exploit efficiently the curtailed energy occurring by the frequency control requirements in wind farms.
