Facilitating Water electrolysers for electricity-grid services in Europe through establishing standardized testing protocols

Abstract

Electrolysers, which convert electricity into hydrogen, have the potential to offer a variety of electrical-grid services, therefore facilitating the integration of intermittent renewables into electrical grids. Among various activities that aim to unlock this hidden value, the 3-year European Union project QualyGridS launched in 2017 aims to establish standardized testing protocols for electrolysers to perform electricity-grid services. This paper shares experience and intermediate results of QualyGridS with respect to the testing protocols, test benches and testing results. The results of this work facilitate mutual understanding between the electricity industry and the hydrogen industry, support further development of the cross-sector testing standards, guide the design and selection of grid-service-oriented electrolyser applications and foster the transition towards a fossil-free-energy future based on high shares of hydrogen and other renewable solutions.

A review of electrolyzer-based systems providing grid ancillary services: current status, market, challenges and future directions

“…However, it is worth noting that recent developments by manufacturers are leading to a further reduction of the lower operating load to below 10% (You et al, 2017).…”

“…Otherwise, the response time when starting the system from cold to minimum load (start-up time) depends on the technology and size of the unit. Normally PEMs require start-up times in the order of 5 min, while AWEs in the order of 20 min (You et al, 2017). It remains obvious that MW size electrolyzers require more start-up time than kW-size units for both technologies.…”

Challenges of Industrial-Scale Testing Infrastructure for Green Hydrogen Technologies

“…Achieving commercial maturity with green hydrogen production requires not only the development of new and the improvement of existing technologies, e.g., advanced device architectures and materials, but it also critically depends on the availability of test facilities in order to reproducibly benchmark their performance, efficiency and longevity under realistic operating conditions [8]. Reliable validation is an essential prerequisite for reaching market readiness as well as for ensuring bankability to trigger large-scale investments into hydrogen technologies.…”