The people of western Jutland have had a new energy system developed that
will result in much more efficient utilisation of wind turbines by using
hydrogen for storage. This will enable us to make full use of the wind
turbines - even if it is not very windy.
When the last one of the 16 small, combined heat and power plants has been
installed, during the climate summit COP15, 66 youth residences at
H2College in Herning will be supplied with electricity, heat and hot water
that are solely based on wind power. H2College, which was designed by
aarhus arkitekterne, is constructed as a passive house and already has very
low consumption of energy. Due to the excellent insulation and recycling of
air, energy consumption for heating has been reduced by 80% compared to
other new buildings. This reduction is of particular importance when we
consider that 40% of Denmark’s energy is used in our buildings.
A great deal can be gained by connecting hydrogen technology and renewable
energy, particularly in the long term. We are currently facing the prospect
of obtaining an increasing proportion of our energy supply from wind power
and other renewable energy sources and, at the same time, using fewer
fossil fuels in our energy supply. As a result, it will become necessary to
store some of the wind power that is generated when the wind turbines are
whirling, so that it can be used during times when there is little supply.
This is the motivation for the hydrogen project at H2College. Businesses in
central Jutland have formed a consortium headed by the Hydrogen Innovation
and Research Centre, HIRC, to collaborate on the supply of various
sub-components for the project.
The wind power that will be stored is used for the production of hydrogen.
The hydrogen is stored in a tank and used at a later stage as fuel in a
fuel cell. The fuel cell produces electricity and heat for the residents
and, thus, takes the pressure off the electricity grid. However, in
principle, any type of renewable energy can be stored.
“The development of new energy technologies and preparation of these for
the market requires a great deal of time and resources. 10 to 20 years is
not out of the ordinary. Therefore, it is by no means too early to develop
and demonstrate the storage of wind power as we are doing with the
H2College project in Herning”, says Lars Yde, technical manager at the
Hydrogen Innovation & Research Centre (HIRC).
Other parts of the world are also showing interest in the hydrogen project
at H2College, which has already played host to a TV team from Taiwan. The
five-minute piece on H2College was broadcast to 1,200,000,000 viewers in
China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Why should we use hydrogen?
Electricity consumption in Denmark varies throughout the day. Consumption
is highest in the morning and evening and lowest at night. Wind power
production also varies depending on how much the wind is blowing. Today,
wind power covers 20 % of all Danish electricity consumption; the rest
comes from coal and natural gas. In order to be able supply the exact
amount of electricity that is needed, second by second, gas and coal power
stations produce the electricity that the wind turbines are not able to
supply.
“This is fine as long as wind power only covers a small proportion of the
electricity supply. However, as the proportion of wind power increases,
there will be more and more periods during which a number of wind turbines
must be stopped because there is no need for the electricity they produce.
When the wind is not blowing, gas and coal power stations must produce all
of the electricity because the excess wind power has not been stored. This
will reduce the potential proportion of renewable energy in our energy
supply. However, if we use hydrogen to store wind power, we will have
a CO2-neutral and efficient solution to the problem”, says Lars Yde.
There are already periods during which the wind turbines are able to supply
over 100% of the electricity needed and, at some stage, it will be cheaper
to store the wind power than to stop some of the turbines when they produce
too much, as we do today. This will depend on the storage options we decide
to use. We could, e.g., charge electric cars and select district heating
produced from wind power. Once these cheaper options have been fully
exploited, it will be necessary to store wind power and we now have the
technology to do this, in the form of hydrogen.
“Wind turbines combined with hydrogen storage are a sustainable
contribution to the solution of our climate change problems. If we obtain
more energy from wind, we will have a great incentive to use electricity
from wind power for hydrogen production, as we do at H2College”, says Peter
Noyé, engineer at NIRAS, the consultant on the visionary youth residence
project.
Contact
Frans Bjørn-Thygesen
Director of the Hydrogen Innovation & Research Centre (HIRC)
Tel. +45 40 6222 06
Lars Yde
Technical manager
Tel. +45 7020 4611
NIRAS
Peter Noyé
Engineer & energy and indoor climate consultant
Tel. +45 4810 4444
aarhus arkitekterne
Lars Sylvester
Head architect
Tel. +45 7024 4000
H2College demonstrates a practical solution to future requirements for a
CO2-free energy supply for dwellings, using hydrogen for the storage of wind
turbine electricity for consumption when the wind is not blowing. This is a
solution that is in global demand and is now available. It has no negative
impact on the climate, but is simply based on the emission of pure water from
the fuel cell!