Dispatchable Low-Carbon Power Operation and Optimization Studies of Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) and Hydrogen 

EPRI is a greater than 50-year-old non-profit research organization with a foundational mission to drive innovation to ensure the public has clean, safe, reliable, affordable, and equitable access to electricity.  To that end, EPRI is engaged in multiple projects evaluating the capabilities of low-carbon dispatchable power generation and energy storage.  Hydrogen is a potential avenue for this dispatchable power and energy storage.  Through demonstrations, studies, and the Low-Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI), EPRI has been engaged in researching hydrogen across the power generation industry.  This presentation will discuss some of these projects.

The EPRI team has been working with utilities and developers focusing on the design, optimization, and control of power and hydrogen generation storage and utilization configurations.  This research includes modeling work utilizing the Modelica systems and Modelon Impact simulation environments.  Specifically, this presentation will exhibit study results on the challenges, opportunities, and pitfalls of hydrogen power generation through thermal assets such as gas turbines with hydrogen fuel and will discuss dynamic and optimization studies on plant systems designed to meet power demand and hydrogen generation. Modeling results have suggested that the most pessimistic and the most optimistic suggestions around hydrogen likely miss the point, that hydrogen as an energy storage mechanism is judged best based on the specific application and operational requirements and a “one-size-fits-all” analysis will not reveal the best design for all applications.  These examples show that specific system design analysis is required to determine technical and economic feasibility.