ElectrolyzersOff-grid systems a b s t r a c tThe aim of this paper is to present and evaluate a proposal for designing an off-grid offshore electrolysis plant powered by wave energy. This plant includes PEM electrolyzers, a Reverse Osmosis system to produce water with adequate conductivity, a compression unit to store the hydrogen for transport, and batteries for temporary storage of electricity for short-time balances. First, the systems that compose the proposed plant are justified and described. Then a proposal for sizing these subsystems is given, based on using buoy-measured data at the expected location and simple mathematical models of the different sections of the plant. Finally the performance of the plant in a specific location is tested in detailed by using measured data, studying the influence of sizing on the expected performance.Copyright ª 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
IntroductionThis paper refers to a renewable energy offshore plant to produce hydrogen currently under development. It is well known that hydrogen is a clean energy carrier independent of energy sources [1]. The full benefits of hydrogen will be obtained when is produced from renewable energy sources. Different renewable energy sources have already been studied for electrolyzation, such as wind [2,3] and solar energy [4,5]; the feasibility of these sources to produce hydrogen has been demonstrated, with the main drawback the variability of these sources (see, for example [5], for a detailed feasibility and economical study), and the significant cost of solar hydrogen [6]. There are some published works on using reverse osmosis to obtain hydrogen from seawater, involving wave energy for generating the energy for the process [7,8]. There are even patents available that take into account this idea [9,10]. This paper concentrates on offshore systems: the source considered in this work is wave energy as wave converters provide lower variability in the energy production in comparison with other sources [11]. Offshore power links are known to be significantly expensive [12], so the system is here assumed to be fully isolated from the grid: it is parallel to the grid independent wind-hydrogen generation presented in [6]. Thus, power consumption adapts to power production by connecting or disconnecting sections of the electrolyzation plant (following a Smart Grid approach for the microgrid in the plant), and using a temporary storage of electricity for shorttime balances and increase of autonomy (that is a relevant issue in offshore installations). Automatic cleanings and maintenance operations are scheduled in the sections that are temporarily disconnected, to improve overall efficiency. Compared with previous proposals [8e10], this paper concentrates on using commercially available components that are already tested in the marine environment. Special * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 983184859.E-mail addresses: alvaro.serna@autom.uva.es, alvarosercan@hotmail.com (Á . Serna).Availab...